Manfred Pernice ‘BRÜCKE2’

A bridge occurs only when two points are connected in a way to allow the possibility of a passage.

For Manfred Pernice’s third solo presentation at The Modern Institute — and first at the gallery’s Aird’s Lane location- the exhibition (or rather the works within it) deal with the relative non-state and impossibility of the passage. This refers not only to the bridge’s functionality but also to the examination or rather unsuitability of the artistic means themselves.

Positioned throughout the gallery, a series of recent sculptural pieces occupy the Aird’s Lane space through a room-size installation. The particle wood cylinder columns, referred to as ‘Dosen’ (cans) by Pernice, appear as a recurring element within his practice that he continually revisits. They are borne from Pernice’s interest in containers and their symbolism of our preoccupation for systematizing and regulating.

Further developing the cylindrical structures, Pernice has situated several new rectangular forms that balance on their pillar-like counterparts, creating make-shift bridges and passageways. The collection of sculptures are adorned with pictorial details, including images of overpasses or perforated fences – alluding to the overarching concept of the exhibition — or have small arrangements of seemingly disparate objects resting on the top of their surfaces. This imagery creates idiosyncratic connections of references, whilst also clearly operating through intentional logic and Pernice’s methodology.