Elza Sile: Kitten at Rämistrasse (Snake's bedroom)

We are excited to inaugurate our new gallery space at Rämistrasse 5 with two solo exhibitions by Elza Sile and Pedro Wirz. The exhibitions are not only framed by the new gallery’s location in the city, but also by the architectural space in a state of transformation. Our new space, unveils its first shows in an unfinished form, acting as a fitting backdrop for the metamorphic processes intrinsic to the works of both artists showcased. In a manner reminiscent of the found objects and hallmark of their work, the building itself becomes another stratum in the amalgamation of materials that they explore.

Constructed in 1911, the gallery's interior bares its true essence and material structure. Concealed behind the walls, the cable lines divulge the concealed infrastructure of the space, revealing the architecture in its naked form. As we enter the ground floor, Elza Sile's large-scale aluminum plates appear as extensions of this composite of mineral material, which, despite its meticulous arrangement, pulsates with a three-dimensional organic life of their own.

The lines that trace her compositions become continuations of the systems of vectors still visible on the walls, transforming her aluminum plates into blurry looking glasses that uncover the invisible systems responsible for the objects' appearance and substance.

Influenced by the notion of the set as a technological, scientific, and psychological principle, Elza Sile employs the grid as a foundation for investigating unforeseen growth and systematic mutation. Like living organisms let loose onto a sequential stage, the materials resist the constraints of their conventions, escaping the plates and transforming into petrified traces – three-dimensional shells that testify to diverse material stages, their durability and capacity to perform.

Like a game or motherboard, these abstract paintings represent a collection of non-living objects that, through physical and immaterial connections, seek significance through narrative and interrelation. Their arrangement on the metal sheet, comparable to the order of the gallery space, in which they are displayed, function as memory devices that transport the viewer into Sile’s fascination for natural forms and the capacity of objects, lines, and materials to chronicle the passage of time.

Connected through wires, silica and graphite pencil lead, the paintings bridge these active materials through arches and lines, building her own architectural sets and basis for a new paint order. The acrylic travels through these abstract canvases like insects, snail-like acrylic paint structures, leaving sticky traces and threads fueled by abiotic life.

With a limited timeframe, this is the only exhibition that will take place in the gallery under its present form, giving the artists and the spectator the chance to experience their work in a space in conversion, where their works are able to shine under the temporary light casted by material bodies in a state of metamorphosis. – Violeta Burckhardt