Marco Bruzzone

Marco Bruzzone @ Gillmeier Rech, Mar 11 – Apr 16

10 March 2016

Marco Bruzzone is presenting solo exhibition Mosse & Mossette (Study for a Set of Emojis after E.Sottsass’ Bacterio) at Berlin’s Gillmeier Rech, opening March 11 and running to April 16.

There is little information about the event aside from its title that alludes to Memphis Group founder Ettore Sottsass Jr.‘s ‘Carlton’ (1981) room divider which shows his by now ubiquitous 1978 ‘Bacterio’ ornamentation for the first time. Said design also appears in a small cluster on a public sign in Bruzzone’s ‘Neris (LT)’ (2015) image provided with the text, presumably taken on the bank of the title-river that runs through Lithuania and Belarus.

Described by the Vitra Design Museum website as a symbol of “meaningful symbolism and rampant consumerism”, ‘Carlton’ is perhaps an ideal starting point for exploring the contemporary pictograph, which began in the emoticons of digital folklore and ended in serving the corporate interests of the emoji. That’s much in the same way that the experiment that was Memphis became a commercial success in the 80s.

See the Gillmeier Rech website for (limited) details.**

Marco Bruzzone, 'Barrel, Global Isolation (with Aude Pariset)' (2014).. Courtesy MJ Gallery, Geneva.
Marco Bruzzone, ‘Barrel, Global Isolation (with Aude Pariset)’ (2014). Courtesy MJ Gallery, Geneva.

Header image: Marco Bruzzone, ‘Neris (LT)’ (Summer 2015). Courtesy the artist.

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Veins of Gypsum Mortar (2015) exhibition photos

4 December 2015

Veins of Gypsum Mortar ran at Ashley Berlin between July 17 to August 1 2015. Artists Viktor Briestensky and Adam Shiu-Yang Shaw invited several other artists to show with them in a dimly lit room full of shadows in the space formally known as Other Projects. The title presents an altering thought that the part (mortar) that holds and seals things (gypsum) together is maybe the things themselves: too, or instead of. Gypsum is a material found present in chalk, alabaster and other forms of plaster. Many of the works in the small internal room seem as though they have swallowed chalk.

Leslie Kulesh‘s piece, ‘T.A.H. Temporary Autonomous Home (Survival Pillow Set)’ (2015) is made and therefore protected with PET film, a transparent polyester film which blocks the following waves: thermal, micro, and electro magnetic -as the materials list on Ashley Berlin’s website describes. There are two pillows. They are very close to each other, held together by a strap that makes them sit back to back. The foam pieces on their insides are visible – each granule.

Adam Shaw, 'Yucca Rose' (2015) Install view. Trevor Good, Courtesy Ashley Berlin.
Adam Shiu-Yang Shaw, ‘Yucca Rose’ (2015) Install view. Trevor Good, Courtesy Ashley Berlin.

On to one of the stone walls in the room Berlin-based artist Marco Bruzzone sticks soft, barbecue-sized marshmallows into the shape of a ‘T’ or a cork-screw or a drill and its called ‘get out fast’ (2015). Andrea Lukic shows three short recent videos -including the haunting ‘Christine Nicole’ (2014) -all wrapped up in in a square monitor, which is all wrapped up in transparent plastic and is also a place for Parisian artist Antoine Renard‘s piece of ground beef (‘untitled’, 2015) to sit.

Artist and co-founder of New York’s Tomorrow Gallery, Aleksander Hardashnakov shows several small drawings pasted to the walls and interior piping, Adam Shiu-Yang Shaw’s ‘Yucca Rose’ and ‘Beyond Quartzite’ are also on the walls, coming out like small cliffs on a bigger cliff face. Viktor Briestensky presents some masks, which also come out from the wall – or the weird melting shadow shape carved into the wall directly behind them. For ‘untitled (hood)’/ ‘untitled (mask)’ 2015 Briestensky swaps facial features for metal grates and eyes for silver foil goggles. 

With no press release to speak of Veins of Gypsum Mortar is instead made up of casts, hollow things, lamps, lighting and things used as padding or stuffing -marshmallows included, maybe. **

Exhibition photos, top right.

The Veins of Gypsum Mortar group exhibition was on at Berlin’s Ashley from July 16 – August 1.

Header image: Veins of Gypsum Mortar (2015). Exhibition view. Trevor Good, Courtesy Ashley, Berlin.

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Meisterschule @ Gillmeier Rech, Apr 9 – 18

7 April 2015

Berlin’s Gillmeier Rech is bringing a new Meisterschule series to its space, with four different classes lead by five different artists running between April 9 and April 18.

The first class, titled ‘A Short Guide to Writing (Positively) about Art (You Like)’ and kicking off on April 9, is led by New York-born Max Schreier, with a three-hour discussion and workshop focusing on developing positive and thoughtful art writing. The second class, titled ‘Antifun Walk’ and led by Stephan Janitzky and Max Schmidtlein, takes place on April 11 with a walk in a “defined area” with “straight rules”.

The third class, taking place on April 12 and led by Berlin-based artist Marco Bruzzone, is titled ‘Mosse e Mossette (A formal study for a set of emojis after E. Sottsass’ Bacterio)’ and takes four classes given by designer and architect E. Sottsass in 1982 on the avant-garde and the bourgeouisie appropriate as its inspiration. The last class, on April 18, is led by artist Lindsay Lawson, called ‘Things in Themselves’ and uniting Lawson with guest Erika Eiffel (who married the Eiffel tower) for an open forum on “the subject of the inner experiences of objects”, Kant’s idea of the thing-in-itself, Objectum Sexuality, etc., taking the Berlin Wall as its point of consideration.

See the FB event page for details. **

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