kaufmann repetto is pleased to host a presentation of limited-edition ceramic jugs by Judith Hopf, as part of Terraterra’s 2022 art residency.

Terraterra is an art residency programme dedicated to utilitarian ceramics, founded and run by Valentina Suma and held in the historic Ceramic District of Grottaglie, Apulia. The name derives from the Italian expression essere terra terra: to be simple, practical, down-to-earth.

Each year, Terraterra invites one visual artist to a residency of variable length, hosted by Enza Fasano's renowned ceramic workshop. Each artist is invited to work closely with local artisans in order to reimagine and design a specific object of tableware, which is produced in a limited, artisanal edition. Each residency ends with a dinner prepared by a celebrated local chef and served in the newly produced ceramics.

For her 2022 residency, Judith Hopf reinterprets the motif of the rooster — a prominent theme of ancient Apulian ceramics — as she denies the masculine, and chooses the hen as her subject. Hopf has portrayed the hen many times over; for example, in the series Chicken Drawings (2008), the hen possesses a clumsy and humble nature compared to the ever-proud rooster, which in turn has been extensively celebrated by the decorative arts.

In Milan, these jugs are installed on supports of various height. While some stand on the floor, evoking a brood of chickens encountered in a henhouse. Surrounded by a selection of drawings, which include four preparatory sketches conceived by Hopf during her residency, as well as her pre-existing Net-drawings (2009) where the depiction of the wire mesh typically used in chicken coops cheekily mimics the peril within the pedestrian, repeating pattern and of Minimalist and Conceptual art.

The presentation is co-curated by Judith Hopf and Terraterra.

Since the 1990s, Judith Hopf has developed an independent artistic language using sculpture, film, drawing and performance. Deeply rooted in everyday materials such as bricks, concrete, ceramics and glass, her work challenges customary representations by inserting the domestic and the absurd into the space of art. Her recent solo exhibitions include Le Plateau (Grace Ile-deFrance) / Bétonsalon, Paris (2022); SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen (2018); KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2018); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2017); Museion, Bozen (2016); Neue Galerie, Kassel (2015); PRAXES, Berlin (2014); Kunsthalle Lingen, Lingen (2013); Studio Voltaire, London (2013); Fondazione Morra Greco, Naples (2013); Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt (2013); Malmø Konsthall, Malmø (2012); Grazer Kunstverein, Graz (2012); Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe (2008); Portikus, Frankfurt (2007); Secession, Vienna (2006); Caso Institute for Art and Design, Utrecht (2006). She has participated in biennials and group exhibitions in international institutions, such as Lenbachhaus, Munich (2018); Mudam, Luxembourg (2017); La Biennale de Montreal (2016); 8th Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool (2014); Sculpture Center, New York (2014); Triennale for Video Art, Mechelen (2012); dOCUMENTA13, Kassel (2012); Kunsthalle Basel (2011); Kunsthall Oslo, Oslo (2010). Judith Hopf is professor of Fine Arts at the Städelschule in Frankfurt.

Valentina Suma is an art consultant and independent curator born in Oria, Apulia, and based in Paris. In 2007 she co-founded Brown Project Space in Milan and later, in 2009, Fluxia gallery. She has worked as director of kaufmann repetto Milano from 2015 to 2018. In the past 10 years, she has collaborated as advisor and production manager with several international artists. Since 2019, she has been working as the studio manager of artist Simone Fattal.