GROUP EXHIBITION

Material Manipulations is the second chapter of a collection exhibition based on material as an artistic commodity. After Material Memories showed in the first chapter how material can be charged with meaning, the second chapter deals with the aesthetic quality of the materials, focusing on the artistic treatment processes and material experiments.

Since the 1960s, artists have quite naturally resorted to non-permanent or organic materials, working with materials from industry or integrating found objects into their works. The artistic working processes and techniques have changed considerably since then. In contrast to handling materials in industry, there are no limits to processing in art. The exhibition explores how artists challenge material properties and working processes and misuse items. For example, Material Manipulations shows works of art by Raphael Hefti, who treats museum glass using unusual chemical processes, or by Bertha Fischer, who creates delicate and playful objects from Plexiglas. Martin Soto Climent takes a ready-made everyday object as his starting point and develops poetic choreographies with stiff metal blinds. Sonia Kacem’s work involves transforming cheap plastic foil into a magnificent, monumental spatial installation.

The exhibition unites artistic positions from different generations and geographic contexts: what they have in common, however, is the unconventional use or processing of material and the curiosity to experiment with it.