Passages is an exhibition about the mutability of matter and form. While questions of form often concern how material is endowed with, or given form, the exhibition likewise attends to the existential dimension embedded within a larger notion of form. The moment in which something takes form is often also the moment in which an existence or presence is suggested, while conversely the dissolution of form often involves disappearance, loss, or even destruction. Moments of making and unmaking form alternate in this exhibition, presenting works that resist being captured as either fully “stable form” or as formless, existing somewhere in between. They create form while simultaneously suggesting the possibility of its dissolution, as if reflecting a fundamental instability. Even if we encounter objects in this exhibition, its focus lies less on a fixed shape, but on a shift, and on the potential for transformation. Matter is considered as a site of change, encompassing both physical and psychological “matter”. At its centre are works that embody a change of state – from one material to another, from one temporality to another, from one appearance to another. Sometimes it is anarchic and disintegrating forces that bring about these transformations, while at others, it is simply the passing of time and with it a kind of withering or evanescence.

This exploration of form and its unmaking shares something with what has already been considered by concepts such as Formless (Rosalind Krauss/Yve-Alain Bois) or Plasticity (Catherine Malabou). Rather than engaging with the transgressive, however, the exhibition contemplates and directs attention towards subtle, and not always immediately perceptible shifts. The works, moving between different states of existence, point to various temporal and material changes in form, some of which will continue to have an effect beyond the exhibition’s temporal boundaries. Time becomes a significant force, not only in the condensation, accumulation, or creation of form, but also in its fading.

Passages gathers both newly conceived and historical works by artists of various generations who consider form as something potentially unfinished and related to process. Viewed as a whole, the exhibition follows a pulsating movement – being dedicated to things in a state of transformation, it negotiates between the concrete and the abstract, as well as between forms that may “not yet” or “no longer” exist.

Curated by Kathrin Bentele

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With generous support from: État de Fribourg, Loterie Romande, Agglomération de Fribourg, Ville de Fribourg, BCF | FKB, Ernst & Olga Gubler-Hablützel Stiftung, Dr. Georg und Josi Guggenheim Stiftung, Pro Helvetia – Swiss Arts Council