L’intermédiaire
L’intermédiaire, a group show curated by Yann Chateigné, proposes a discussion of the logic of group exhibitions together with the artists themselves as the producers. Donatella Bernardi shows the piece Weihnachtsausstellung (2009), which consists of 40 Christmas trees between 1.2 and 1.6 meters in size. They are installed upside down on a frame that serves as a false ceiling for the exhibition space, thus providing an unusual perspective of the space and the objects themselves. Their typical triangular shape is inverted, the trees that are so emblematic for Christian-occidental culture are reversed and propose a sphere of reflection. The installation also plays with the traditional “Christmas show” organized in many art centers around the world, aiming to democratically present local artists’ productions.
Bernardi’s second piece on display, Votation populaire du 29 novembre 2009 (2009), deals with the referendum held in Switzerland on this day, based on the SVP‘s (Swiss People‘s Party) “Initiative against minarets“, which resulted in the vote against the construction of minarets in Switzerland. In the piece, which is a collaboration with Niels Wehrspann, three striped tapestry systems constitute an abstract painting out of scotch tape. The wall is covered with stripes in an arbitrary manner, whose shapes are modified by the size of the tape, which forms a green and red binary code. This technique comes from Jerusalem, where people use it to tag the sign of the Ka’aba on their doors after their pilgrimage to Mecca. It can be seen as a symbolic minaret, which thus penetrates the bichromatic tapestry and suggests an interruption in this closed system.
Donatella Bernardi‘s third piece in the exhibition is Taxonomie (2009). Made of shell tissue and steel wire ropes, the work deals with the process of learning and acquiring knowledge, which is often a history of ordering, classifying, and partitioning. The construction of walls, depicted here by a layer of fine perforated fabric, reminds one of the taxonomic reflexes that condition exhibition practices—particularly group exhibitions—as well as the work of the artist or critic.
Artists in the exhibition:
Donatella Bernardi with Tiphanie Blanc, Florence Derieux, Florence Ostende and Niels Wehrspann
Kim Seob Boninsegni and Aurélien Gamboni with Davide Cascio and Kaspar Müller
microsillons with the Genevan autonomous group Education is NOT for $A£€, in collaboration with the students and former students of Head Genève—Haute École d‘Art et de Design—Geneva University of Art and Design: Anthony Bodin, Adrien De Quattrobarde, Lucas Herzig, Abigail Janjic, Cecilia Jonsson, Marjorie Kapelusz, Mickaël Lianza, Andrea Marioni, Rosalie Mdade, Sélène Mauvis, Vincent Routhier, Daniela Schmitz, Moyleang Tan, Aymeric Tarrade, Léonie Vanay, Basile Wendling, Carla Zurcher.
Background picture: Votation populaire du 29 novembre 2009. Photo: Virginie Otth.
Below pictures: Weihnachtsausstellung, Taxonomie and Votation populaire du 29 novembre 2009 for L'Intermédiaire. Photo: Virginie Otth.
