«From Object to Ornament» Part II

"From Object to Ornament" is a two part exhibition that explores the transformation of everyday items to purely aesthetic and formal image objects. Losing their original purpose and transforming to symbolic pieces these are still hefty cultural, political, social and aesthetic signifiers. Patterns, sculptures, forms, cars, spaces, body parts or remnants gain a repurposed visual materiality. The newly produced works offer a wide array of approaches to understand ornament as more than a mere formulation of surface.

The second part of the exhibition features two positions, Not Vital and Sonia Kacem.
Not Vital has collaborated with Edition VFO for the fifth time, creating for the 75th anniversary of the association a new portfolio titled "DI & NOT," which means day and night in Rumantsch, the artist’s native language. The portfolio features 10 of Vital's architectural illustrations as photo-etchings, either in white on black or in black on white. Through his work, Vital challenges traditional notions of buildings and prompts fundamental questions about architecture and its relationship with the environment. Vital’s artistic license allows him to push the boundaries of conventional building design and create radical interpretations of architectural structures, blurring the line between art and architecture, as well as between essence and ornament.

In contrast to Vital's strongly architectural works, Sonia Kacem's new series of lithographs explore the natural forms and architectural shapes she encountered while in Egypt during a six-month residency in 2019. Kacem's creative process involves the layering of different colored patterns using lithography, resulting in a series of small edition prints due to the multiple printing combinations. Kacem’s use of abstraction, repetition, and spontaneous gesture produces patterns that are not mere reproductions, but rather seek to create something new at the core of the pattern. Kacem's new work seeks to produce something untenable walking the fine line between ornament and pure abstraction.

Join us for the opening on the June 9th at 6pm or visit us during our regular opening hours. The exhibtion will be on display until 10th October