Oscar Tuazon and Manuel Burgener
13 Feb - 25 Apr 2010
OSCAR TUAZON and MANUEL BURGENER
13.02. - 25.04.2010
OSCAR TUAZON
Kunsthalle Bern proudly presents Oscar Tuazon’s first solo exhibition in Switzerland. This will be the American artist’s first encounter with a German-speaking audience, after already having gained recognition in the United States and France. The premise of his most recent works seems to be that architecture is a form of appropriation which reflects a particular way of life. According to Tuazon, then, buildings do not primarily represent a form of design, a thought-out concept. Rather, he conceives of them as manifestations of a way of life that has formed its surroundings. It appears that Tuazon is inspired by the contradictions which originate in different uses of space, by strategies of coping with limited means or remote places, by parasitic tactics with regard to different economic systems.
Oscar Tuazon also works as a writer, publisher and curator, and he could be called one of the most radical sculptors of his time. Tuazon’s artistic practice constitutes a kind of contemporary sculptural bricolage, which is reminiscent of Arte Povera because of its inventive use of natural and industrial materials. In today’s ‘art-system’, which is developed and institutionalized to a larger degree than ever before, such ‘underground’-activities are an impetus to reflect on artistic possibilities that retain a certain independence. To Tuazon, the realization of an exhibition is comparable to architecture in that it represents an appropriation of an environment.
For his exhibition at Kunsthalle Bern, Oscar Tuazon will produce a new, site-specific work. We are also looking forward to the publication of the first comprehensive and richly illustrated catalogue on Tuazon’s work in the last few years. The catalogue is the result of a cooperation with Centre international d’art et du paysage de Vassivière and Parc Saint Léger - Centre d’art contemporain du Pougues-les-Eaux in France, where solo exhibitions of Tuazon’s work will also be or have been realized a short time ago.
MANUEL BURGENER
The work of Bernese artist Manuel Burgener plays in the simplest way with the oscillation between the disenchantment and the re-enchantment of our world. Be it sculptures, photographs or installations, his works act as both trace and signal, directing viewers to other places, at once real and imagined. It is tempting to say that the artist is creating a new visual language, but he is in fact breaking down the one we know, estranging it from us. The scale of his work often appears somewhat off, and we may feel a little too big or too small standing before it.
Burgener organizes an ambiguous ‘presence’ for his objects, or rather: images. It was the French philosopher Henri Bergson who defined the image as an existence, which is more than what an idealist would call a representation, but less than what a realist would call a thing. That’s exactly where Burgener’s unpretentious works resides: as an existence halfway between a representation and a thing.
13.02. - 25.04.2010
OSCAR TUAZON
Kunsthalle Bern proudly presents Oscar Tuazon’s first solo exhibition in Switzerland. This will be the American artist’s first encounter with a German-speaking audience, after already having gained recognition in the United States and France. The premise of his most recent works seems to be that architecture is a form of appropriation which reflects a particular way of life. According to Tuazon, then, buildings do not primarily represent a form of design, a thought-out concept. Rather, he conceives of them as manifestations of a way of life that has formed its surroundings. It appears that Tuazon is inspired by the contradictions which originate in different uses of space, by strategies of coping with limited means or remote places, by parasitic tactics with regard to different economic systems.
Oscar Tuazon also works as a writer, publisher and curator, and he could be called one of the most radical sculptors of his time. Tuazon’s artistic practice constitutes a kind of contemporary sculptural bricolage, which is reminiscent of Arte Povera because of its inventive use of natural and industrial materials. In today’s ‘art-system’, which is developed and institutionalized to a larger degree than ever before, such ‘underground’-activities are an impetus to reflect on artistic possibilities that retain a certain independence. To Tuazon, the realization of an exhibition is comparable to architecture in that it represents an appropriation of an environment.
For his exhibition at Kunsthalle Bern, Oscar Tuazon will produce a new, site-specific work. We are also looking forward to the publication of the first comprehensive and richly illustrated catalogue on Tuazon’s work in the last few years. The catalogue is the result of a cooperation with Centre international d’art et du paysage de Vassivière and Parc Saint Léger - Centre d’art contemporain du Pougues-les-Eaux in France, where solo exhibitions of Tuazon’s work will also be or have been realized a short time ago.
MANUEL BURGENER
The work of Bernese artist Manuel Burgener plays in the simplest way with the oscillation between the disenchantment and the re-enchantment of our world. Be it sculptures, photographs or installations, his works act as both trace and signal, directing viewers to other places, at once real and imagined. It is tempting to say that the artist is creating a new visual language, but he is in fact breaking down the one we know, estranging it from us. The scale of his work often appears somewhat off, and we may feel a little too big or too small standing before it.
Burgener organizes an ambiguous ‘presence’ for his objects, or rather: images. It was the French philosopher Henri Bergson who defined the image as an existence, which is more than what an idealist would call a representation, but less than what a realist would call a thing. That’s exactly where Burgener’s unpretentious works resides: as an existence halfway between a representation and a thing.