Lorenzo Bernet / PARA VALLEY
Wheels and Disks, once extricated from the history of utilitarian progress, in
turn enabled and spurred, while we were clad in ill-fitting skins and furs, emerge
as new machines. Their inherent faculty to spin paused; their revolutions generating
capital rerouted, they become the rudimentary devices of an idle yet
autarkic polis. As usual, there’ll be those grumbling: Same Old Chakra of Spineless
Bums! But We know Energy is Key and will ultimately Seize The Day. A New
Dawn.
turn enabled and spurred, while we were clad in ill-fitting skins and furs, emerge
as new machines. Their inherent faculty to spin paused; their revolutions generating
capital rerouted, they become the rudimentary devices of an idle yet
autarkic polis. As usual, there’ll be those grumbling: Same Old Chakra of Spineless
Bums! But We know Energy is Key and will ultimately Seize The Day. A New
Dawn.
PARA VALLEY presents a series of custom-made ropes that delineate the
gallery space. Some ropes, running along handmade wooden pulleys, signal a
capacity to work and be worked. This installation is accompanied by drawings
adumbrating individuals and groups engaged in cycles of construction and
production. Covered by sheets of stained glass in hues ranging from iridescent
to incendiary – light bronzes and carmines to deep crimson – these chromatic
determinations insinuate a fourth, temporal dimension, which, spanning from
dawn till dusk, lends the drawings an indefinite actuality.
gallery space. Some ropes, running along handmade wooden pulleys, signal a
capacity to work and be worked. This installation is accompanied by drawings
adumbrating individuals and groups engaged in cycles of construction and
production. Covered by sheets of stained glass in hues ranging from iridescent
to incendiary – light bronzes and carmines to deep crimson – these chromatic
determinations insinuate a fourth, temporal dimension, which, spanning from
dawn till dusk, lends the drawings an indefinite actuality.
Cultish, loom-like structures are united in their precise, hand-drawn representation,
towering over their creators who are but phantoms; stolid, deliberate, and
voiceless. In Bernet’s works, any Snapchatted concepts of selves absorbing
and replacing images of corroding notions of labor and community, are reinterpreted
as bucolic sceneries within which copies of spectral drop-out or counter-cultural
communes seem to roam and organize. Bernet here expands on the
themes of resources, labor and contrivance, all of which register an originary
Greek mekhos (machine/mechanics).
towering over their creators who are but phantoms; stolid, deliberate, and
voiceless. In Bernet’s works, any Snapchatted concepts of selves absorbing
and replacing images of corroding notions of labor and community, are reinterpreted
as bucolic sceneries within which copies of spectral drop-out or counter-cultural
communes seem to roam and organize. Bernet here expands on the
themes of resources, labor and contrivance, all of which register an originary
Greek mekhos (machine/mechanics).
In this proposed environment, these notions are tinged with pre-modern, proto-industrial
motifs that transport the viewer, not to historical sites of mass-production
and exploitation, but to a surreal and alpine technoid-68 hamlet. Both
abstracted and estranged, outlines of horse-drawn cultivators, spires of a
Tyrolean-orientalist bent, and strangely Teutonic merry go-rounds are refracted
into a sketch of a novel social enterprise.
motifs that transport the viewer, not to historical sites of mass-production
and exploitation, but to a surreal and alpine technoid-68 hamlet. Both
abstracted and estranged, outlines of horse-drawn cultivators, spires of a
Tyrolean-orientalist bent, and strangely Teutonic merry go-rounds are refracted
into a sketch of a novel social enterprise.
– Daniel Horn
Lorenzo Bernet (b. 1986, Zürich; lives and works in Zürich and
Vienna). Selected solo and two-person exhibitions: Hester, New York (2016); The
Duck, with Yannic Joray, Berlin (2015); Hard Hat, Geneva (2014); Swiss
Institute, with Jan Vorisek, Milan (2013); Pleasant, Copenhagen (2012);
Kunsthalle Palazzo, with Yannic Joray, Liestal, CH (2012); Desert Planet,
curated by Fredi Fischli, Zürich (2009); Selected group exhibitions: Kiefer
Hablitzel Prize, Basel (forthcoming, 2016); Garret Grimoire, Vienna (2015); Spike
Magazine, Berlin (2015); wellwellwell, Vienna (2015); Hester, New York (2015);
Alte Fabrik/Kurator, Rapperswil, CH (2014); Tropicsparis, Paris (2014);
Helmhaus Zürich, Zürich (2014); Werkbeiträge Bildende Kunst Kanton Zürich,
Zürich (2013); Galerie Samy Abraham, Paris (2012); Fluxia, Milan (2011); Future
Gallery, Berlin (2011); School of Development, Berlin (2010). Bernet is a
co-founder of MUDA MUDA MURI, Vienna/Zürich, and Darsa Comfort, Zürich.
Vienna). Selected solo and two-person exhibitions: Hester, New York (2016); The
Duck, with Yannic Joray, Berlin (2015); Hard Hat, Geneva (2014); Swiss
Institute, with Jan Vorisek, Milan (2013); Pleasant, Copenhagen (2012);
Kunsthalle Palazzo, with Yannic Joray, Liestal, CH (2012); Desert Planet,
curated by Fredi Fischli, Zürich (2009); Selected group exhibitions: Kiefer
Hablitzel Prize, Basel (forthcoming, 2016); Garret Grimoire, Vienna (2015); Spike
Magazine, Berlin (2015); wellwellwell, Vienna (2015); Hester, New York (2015);
Alte Fabrik/Kurator, Rapperswil, CH (2014); Tropicsparis, Paris (2014);
Helmhaus Zürich, Zürich (2014); Werkbeiträge Bildende Kunst Kanton Zürich,
Zürich (2013); Galerie Samy Abraham, Paris (2012); Fluxia, Milan (2011); Future
Gallery, Berlin (2011); School of Development, Berlin (2010). Bernet is a
co-founder of MUDA MUDA MURI, Vienna/Zürich, and Darsa Comfort, Zürich.