Reto Pulfer
dal 13/11/2015 al 5/3/2016
Segnalato da
13/11/2015
Reto Pulfer
Centre international d'art et du paysage, Ile de Vassiviere
Die Loci der Ortie. Considered one of the most promising artists on the current Swiss scene, he is presenting a group of textile works and artefacts made between 2008 and 2015, as well as new pieces for the art centre and its Sculpture Wood that take the Vassiviere landscape as their inspiration.
The Vassivière Island International Centre for Art and Landscape is welcoming Reto Pulfer for his first major exhibition in a French art institution. Considered one of the most promising artists on the current Swiss scene, he is presenting a group of textile works and artefacts made between 2008 and 2015, as well as new pieces for the art centre and its Sculpture Wood that take the Vassivière landscape as their inspiration. On opening day the exhibition will be accompanied by a performance by the artist. The soundtrack will be provided by Reto Pulfer playing electric guitar, with added input from various objects and other instruments.
A self-taught artist, Pulfer uses painting, drawing, writing, music and found materials to construct distinctively intuitive, complex worlds evocative of total works of art. This invitation to the art centre is an opportunity for him to set up a connection between his new novel, Gina, and the singular history of Vassivière Island.
Reto Pulfer bases his work on intricate linguistic/mnemonic systems and creates his installations for the most part from recycled materials – in particular fabrics and paper – on which he draws and paints before arranging them into geographical explorations. For the group exhibition Acting in This Landscape at the art centre in 2013, he stretched large pieces of coloured fabric between the walls in a recreation of an ancient burial chamber. This summer, as part of Being a Thing, another group show at Vassivière, he showed the textile work ZR Autswaus O (2008), which uses a sofa cover to conjure up a marine creature.
The exhibition title Die Loci der Ortie is linguistically self-reflexive, with the artist playing on words from different languages: loci means "places" in Latin and translates as Orte in German, while ortie ("nettle" in French) simultaneously signals the artist's interest in the uses plants are put to and reminds us of the German Orte.
Designed as a pathway leading through a succession of tents and objects representing specific mental and physical states, Die Loci der Ortie is "a reflection of the starkness of the dam and the artificial character of Vassivière Island." Pulfer sets out to transform Aldo Rossi and Xavier Fabre's postmodern art centre building into a place for listening, remembrance and a pleasingly unexpected interaction between environment, sculpture, architecture and music. For this Pulfer has designed and made two new large-scale works: in the nave is an installation referencing the rocky desert landscape of his novel; and in the Sculpture Wood is a spreading net inspired by the astronomical temples of antiquity and the artificial grottos of the 18th century.
The exhibition catalogue is jointly published by the Centre d'Art Contemporain in Geneva, Spike Island in Bristol (UK), the Musée Régional d'Art Contemporain in Sérignan (France) and the Forum Eugénio de Almeida in Evora (Portugal). It will appear in 2016.
Supported by Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts
Press contact:
Coralie Desmurs T: +33 (0)5 55692727 communication@ciapiledevassiviere.com
Opening Saturday 14 November at 4 pm, followed by a performance at 6 pm
The Vassivière Island International Centre for Art and Landscape
87 120 Beaumont-du-Lac Île de Vassivière
Hours:
Tuesday-Sunday and day off (except the 25th od december and the 1st of january) 2pm/6pm et on appointment.
Exhibitrion: Plein tarif 3€ / Tarif réduit 1,5€