Reto Pulfer at Hollybush Gardens

Livingthings are tragic things. And dead
things make good fertiliser. And some have
a compassionate pumpingheart.[2]

The exhibition serves as a material continuation of Pulfer’s ecological science fiction novel Gina (2022), which imagines a realm of post-apocalyptic and post-human conditions navigated by a multispecies system. By turns sensorial, magical and distinctly ecological, Gina posits a speculative imagining of an interdependent world that decentres anthropocentrism. Adhering to this logic through material and form that integrates organic matter and found material, Pulfer expresses sensitivity to a multiplicity of life forms both visible and invisible. Organic dyes permeate fabric paintings and suspended fabric sculptures, appearing in a state of emerging. These evoke, as Pulfer describes, a kind of ‘garden architecture […] landscaping across centuries and styles, referencing ancient and postmodern architecture with a material as simple as textile.’ Swathes of patchwork textile shroud the ceiling as a fluid vista embroidered with rhizomes, worms and hieroglyphs. Collectively, these floating structures manifest a hybridised space between environment, sculpture and nomadic architecture. A large vermiform table displays geometric compositions alongside wood, dried flowers and seeds as though readying raw material for concrete experimentation. Within this provisional installation, sensorial qualities and emotive details conjure a philosophical and constellatory poetics, tracing the generative potential of symbiosis and infinitude, metamorphosis and impermanence.

Reto Pulfer (b. 1981, Bern, Switzerland) lives and works in Uckermark, Germany. Pulfer’s practice investigates various conditions of mutability, combining textile, painting, botanical life and natural material to create immersive installations and performances. Recent solo exhibitions include Blitzzzustand, Kunstverein KunstHaus Potsdam, Germany (2022); edrerde, Hollybush Gardens, London (2021); Reto Pulfer: Gegenwartsgewaechse, Fundaziun Nairs, Switzerland (2020); Angiozustand, Lafayette Anticipations, Paris (2020); Tincti, Art Basel Parcours (2019); Bourgeon purin pur, Centre culturel suisse, Paris (2019); Die Loci Der Ortie, Centre international d’art et du paysage de l’île de Vassivière, France (2015); Gewässerzeiten , Spike Island, Bristol, UK (2015); Dehydrierte Landschaft, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, Switzerland (2015); Les chambres des états, Musée régional d’art contemporain Languedoc-Roussillon, Sérignan, France; and Zustandseffekte, Swiss Institute, New York (2013).

Selected group exhibitions include Soil to Soil, Gebert Stiftung für Kultur, Rapperswil, Switzerland (2022); The Stomach and the Port, Liverpool Biennial 2021 (2021); You – Oeuvres de la collection Lafayette Anticipations, Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris (2019); Kunstkredit Basel-Stadt, Kunsthalle Basel (2018); Metamorphoses — Let Everything Happen to You, Castello di Rivoli, Turin (2018); 100 Jahre Gegenwart. Der Auftakt, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2015); and Animism, Kunsthal Extra City Antwerpen and M HKA – Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp (2010). His work is held in the collections of FRAC Limousin, France; Centre national des arts plastiques, France; Collection Lafayette Anticipations, Paris; Sammlung Kunstkredit Baselland, Basel; and David Roberts Art Foundation, London.