States of Matter

Anti-monument
2010
Wood, MDF, steel, textiles
86 x 86 x 366 cm
Swiss Church, London


untitled (six legs flag)
2011
Wood, textiles
160 x 366 cm


untitled (inverted flag)
2011
Wood, textiles
180 x 366 cm

States of Matter
2011
Swiss Church, London
With Ilona Sagar (UK)
An exhibition curated by Anca Rujoiu and Manuela Schlumpf.

(...) A series of free-standing structures whose shapes and jarring materials will disrupt the symmetry and aesthetics of the space. Informed by Robert Morris’ felt-sculptures, ritual objects will cultivate a state of uncertainty and randomness in a very ordered environment. Yet, in their ambiguous forms and latent performativity, these objects expose a set of unforeseen possibilities.

States of Matter

States of Matter is the first exhibition selected by the Swiss Church in London following an open call addressed to MFA students in Curating at Goldsmiths College.
Established since 1855 on Endell Street in central London, the Swiss Church has recently been subject to a major renovation plan which reconfigured the space and expanded its focus. Internationally renowned architects Christ & Gantenbein reconciled the 19th-century architecture with modern elements such as concrete structures and mirrored panels designing a sacral space which likewise accommodates a varied span of activities. States of Matter addresses the encounter between sanctity and aesthetics, tradition and contemporaineity that transfigures the space and shapes its experience. Features of architecture, the church’s function and ideology are articulated and questioned through the artists’ works. Ilona Sagar and Davide Cascio take this polymorphic context as content and involve the attributes and various purposes of the space in their works. Instigated by the overlapping, contrasting practices unfolding in church, the artists highlight and reconsider its narratives into a larger sphere of social life. Davide Cascio is a Swiss artist based in Lugano, currently living and working in Paris. Cascio’s work evolves around practices of architecture and design making direct references to modernist ideologies. Operating on the legacy of minimalist art, his works often take very precise geometrical forms and act as an expansion of the space in which they are situated. For the Swiss Church, the artist created a series of free-standing structures whose shapes and jarring materials will disrupt the symmetry and aesthetics of the space. Informed by Robert Morris’ felt-sculptures, ritual objects will cultivate a state of uncertainty and randomness in a very ordered environment. Yet, in their ambiguous forms and latent performativity, these objects expose a set of unforeseen possibilities. 
Anca Rujoiu and Manuela Schlumpf.

Robert Morris, Untitled ( inverted shoulder) 1978


Robert Morris, Untitled (six legs)
Felt
1967-68


Martha Grahm
El Penitente
1940
With Erick Hawkins and Merce Cunningham