Magdalena Gerber: Selected works, 2013-2022
TRUST, 2022
TRUST is a project at the frontier of art and political action. It is rooted in the utopia of a more egalitarian sharing of wealth through the commitment of each individual. With its banks and many headquarters of international organizations, Geneva is a humanitarian and monetary hub.
Following the example of counting sticks, on which, from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 20th century, tasks to be accomplished, rights in the common ownership and debts to be paid to a creditor were carved, thus I engraved monetary values and distinctive signs on pairs of black sandstone coins.
At three meeting points during the exhibition, visitors can obtain half a stick for free. In return, they pledge to donate the amount shown on the stick to a charity. Like the butterfly effect, this donation can contribute to a modest redistribution of wealth.
Hecate, 2022
The chaotic dust of the universe is thought to have condensed due to collisions generating fusions and so to have formed the first stars, the Earth, the Moon and the other planets. The two spheres of the Earth-Moon couple waltz in space in a regular heliocentric pattern. The gravity point of this duo is within the Earth but off-centre, causing the oval trajectory.
By turns fully lit and then once more in total darkness, the Moon has always been a source of projection, creating a poetic and mythological space. Through its monthly apparition and disappearance, going so far as to suggest the possible existence of “black moons” tracing the shadow of the real Moon on its orbital path, a fictional space permits the wildest of narratives. In Greek mythology, for example, the Moon’s changing phases are attributed to the protective goddess Hecate, associated with wealth and fertility as well as with death.
This piece aims to fuse the real and the imaginary by the material presence of thirteen convex discs in polished black stoneware, mounted on the wall or placed on the floor in an oval arrangement as if they were fragments of black moon spheres.
Shareholder, 2018
On the floor of the impressive factory stairwell, there is a flat plate of deep-black chamotte with regular indentations and an inlaid geometric pattern. The work Shareholder by Magdalena Gerber is based on a Chinese counting frame. Using this system, it is possible to represent numbers by means of specific placings in the grid. The artist visualizes, in an associative way, a constellation comprising economic calculation and personal emotion: the arrangement of the balls shows the sum of 2.5 million Swiss Francs, corresponding to the sales price of the company’s share capital after it went bankrupt in 2002. The individual balls made from adamantine spar (they were used in the grinding mills to break down the raw materials for porcelain production) are printed with photos of eyeballs. On the one hand, they are symbolic of the craftsmanlike precision in ceramics production, on the other hand they represent the employees and shareholders of the business. (Eva-Maria Knüsel)
Illusions du Reel, 2013
Since the 14th century, plates served as furnishings and for decoration in the rooms in which aristocratic banquets were held. The 64 plates on the stairway of Château Borély are displayed on a wall shelve reminiscent of the period and which conveyed by the number of rows, the social status of the host, yet were also meant as a subversive ornament.
There are no hunting scenes or other dramatic depictions to be seen, but fragments of renovation, wall sketches, and peeled-off color spots. In this manner, the installation places at center the craftsman who made the realization of such an estate possible.
The work could be realized through the generous support of Groupe Eifage and Manufacture Bernardaud.
Captions
- (photo 1) TRUST, 2022, Black polished stoneware with porcelain inlay, exhibition view Ariana Museum, Geneva, ©Raphaëlle Mueller
(photo 2) TRUST, 2022, Black polished stoneware with porcelain inlay, detail, ©Magdalena Gerber
(photo 3) TRUST, 2022, Black polished stoneware with porcelain inlay, detail, ©Magdalena Gerber - (photo 1) Hécate, 2022, Black polished stoneware, 13 pieces of ø 60cm exhibition view Musée Art et Histoire, Neuchâtel/CH, ©Nicolas Lieber
(photo 2) Hécate, 2022, Black polished stoneware, 13 pieces of ø 60cm exhibition vies Musée Art et Histoire, Neuchâtel/CH, ©Magdalena Gerber
(photo 3) Hécate, 2022, Black polished stoneware, ø 60cm, ©Raphaëlle Mueller - (photo 1) Shareholder, 2018, Stoneware, Porcelain Bone China, Korrund, Ceramic Print · 50×70×7 cm, detail ©Michel Giesbrecht
(photo 2) Shareholder, 2018, Stoneware, Porcelain Bone China, Korrund, Ceramic Print · 50×70×7cm, Exhibtion view Langenthal Porcelain Factory ©Michel Giesbrecht
(photo 3) Shareholder, 2018, Stoneware, Porcelain Bone China, Korrund, Ceramic Print · 50×70×7 cm, detail ©Michel Giesbrecht - (photo 1) Illusions du Réel, 2013, Porcelain, Digital print, Laser engraving, Gold, Exhibition view, Musée Borély, Marseille/F, 288×274×4 cm ©Mathilde Mestrallet
(photo 2) Illusions du Réel, 2013, Porcelain, Digital print, Laser engraving, Gold, Exhibition view, Musée Borély, Marseille/F, 288×274×4 cm ©Mathilde Mestrallet
(photo 3) Illusions du Réel, 2013, Porcelain, Digital print, Laser engraving, Gold, Exhibition view, Musée Borély, Marseille/F, detail, 288×274×4 cm ©Mathilde Mestrallet
(photo 4) Illusions du Réel, 2013, Porcelain, Digital print, Laser engraving, Gold, Exhibition view, détail, ø27 cm ©Magdalena Gerber
