Magazini del Sale 266: Anselm Keifer - Salt of the Earth. Anselm Keifer’s Salt of the Earth exhibition in the appropriate space, Magazini del Sale 226 until November 30 was curated by Germano Celant. The Title Salt of the Earth refers to Keifer’s interest in the alchemical process, representing the aspiration of a human being to an almost golden perfection of existence. According to the artist, in order to awake from the past and find a new spiritual dimension, a person has to pass through various stages of mutation; art is an instrument to facilitate this step and rebirth. For this reason, in his paintings and sculptures, Keifer makes use of symbolic process like electrolysis, materials like lead, gold and salt, which in ancient tradition were used for a metaphorical transformation of the self. The exhibition consists of a vitrine, Athanor, a painting, Arche (Ark) and an installation Das Salz der Erde (Salt of the Earth) in which photographs of landscapes, mounted on lead panels are suspended.
Details of the panels. The panels were submitted to a process of electrolysis that has covered them with a green patina, a color of signifying and underlying hope and announcing the union of opposites. Here Kiefer offers his visual reflection on the theme of alchemy and the Kabbalah; esoteric teachings in which an impulse towards reawakening and a great awareness of the individual and of his culture is laid bare