Sarah Burger
'New Continents, Light Lines' is the first UK solo exhibition of Swiss, Zurich based, artist Sarah Burger in which the artist develops a site-responsive installation. Combining analogue and digital print techniques on fabric in varying two- and three-dimensions, Burger develops complex works which make reference to the topics of presence, duration, time and the history of material.
A series of printed panel fabric works hang in the space and show traces of the artist’s process. By adding pigments to the liquid plaster, structures and different drawings start to develop. Subsequently, the artist scans the resulting cast objects and edits this photograph digitally by adding overlaid colour planes. The final images evoke natural drifting floating islands, and refer to the existence of different layers of time.
Burger exhibits these fabric hangings alongside pieces from a second body of three-dimensional work. These sculptural formations are also made of printed fabric imposed on a wire frame, winding themselves through the narrow exhibition space. The form of these sculptures appear organic. The print surface presents the structure of stone or other related minerals, which become visible within the fabric.
Both groups of work, the fabric prints and the sculptures, are placed in contrast to each other in their differing configurations, however they maintain a quiet dialogue with each other with their relationship to materiality. Within her exploration of presence and material, the artist is interested in the concurrence of cultural values and signifiers as well as the temporal varying understanding of it. A narrative aspect in the form of pure fiction is of great importance. The new narrative spaces are being opened up to the viewer and the viewer’s experience. The multilayered and process-led approach within the Burger’s practice is seen in the works highly condensed mode of expression.
Curator: Lea Whinyates Hess.
Sarah Burger (born 1982, Glarus, Switzerland) lives and works in Zurich. She graduated Philosophy and Comparative Literature and Linguistics at the University of Zurich and Humboldt University, Berlin, in 2009. From 2005 till 2007, Burger studied at the Ecole cantonale d’Art du Valais (ECAV) in Siders, Switzerland. She went on to complete a Master Degree in Visual Art at the “Haute école d’art et de design (HEAD)” in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2011. Since 2012 Burger is working on a her postgraduate degree at the “Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK)“ in Zürich, Switzerland and at the Kunstuniversität Linz, Austria.Solo exhibitions include MODERN LEAVES, Elefante Centro Cultural, Brasilia, Brasil, (2016); (un)earthed, Corner College, Zurich, Switzerland, (2015); FALTA TROPICAL (I don‘t speak Spanish but my computer does), Centre d‘Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland, (2015); CARAVAN 2/2015, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland, (2015); SONNENANBETER, zwanzigquadratmeter, Berlin, Germany, (2014); Other episodes with Pascal Danz, Blancpain Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland, (2014); référence au lieu, St. Peter and Paul Church, Bern, Switzerland, (2013); Géométrie du temps, Gallery Schauort, Zurich, Switzerland, (2013); Matter of Shape,Gallery Blancpain Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland, (2012).Group shows include Delay Call Forwarding, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France, (2017); Werk- und Auslandatelierstipendien, Helmhaus, Zurich, Switzerland, (2016); Werkschau, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland, (2016); NOTITLES_01, Schwarzwaldallee, Basel, Switzerland, (2015); Stipendium Vordemberge-Gildewart, Centre Pasquart, Biel, Switzerland, (2015); Moment!, Kunstverein Göttingen, Germany, (2015); A PLACE LIKE THIS, Klöntaltriennale, Kunsthaus Glarus, Switzerland, (2014); Jardin sec, Urgent Paradis und Lausanne Jardins, Lausanne, Switzerland, (2014); Sarai Reader 09: The Exhibition, Devi Art Foundation, Gurgaon, India, (2013); Gratwanderungen, Kunsthaus Glarus, Switzerland (2012); ‚Swiss Art Awards’, Basel, Switzerland, (2012).Grants and Artist Residencies: Studio Stipend Stiftung Binz 39, Zürich (2017-2019) Stipend from the Hans Streiff-Foundation, Glarus, Switzerland, (2016); Travel grant by Stiftung Anne-Marie Schindler, (2015); Support for (un)earthed by the Ernst und Olga Gubler- Hablützel Foundation (2015); Support for (un)earthed by the Dr. Georg and Josi Guggenheim Foundation (2015); UBS Grant (2013); Support by Pro Helvetia for Sarai Reader 09: The Exhibition (2013); Studio residency in Berlin, Germany, Kultur Kommission Kanton Glarus (2012); Prix Galerie HEAD, Genf (2011); Support for Mondzimmer by the Dr. Georg und Josi Guggenheim and by the Ernst und Olga Gubler-Hablützel Foundation (2011).