curated by Helga Sandl and Verena Nussbaumer

Australian artist Jamie North is presenting his creative installations in Switzerland for the first time with “Stone in Three Phases”. He spent months designing the inner courtyard of the Kulturhaus Obere Stube.

Six rows of stones extend in geometric order along the wall of the inner courtyard over a distance of 15 metres. If you stand directly in front of them, the stones look as if they are floating in front of the wall. “Stone Field” has an extremely surreal character. Stones made of Vals Quartzite alternate with others made of steel slag, a waste product from steel production, drawing slightly different patches of colour on the wall. The nuances range from grey to black, with rust shimmering through in between. The order of the stones, which appears strict at first glance, is repeatedly broken up by deliberately placed irregularities. Small ferns and mosses have settled in the brittle, porous material.

Jamie North’s sculptures represent an intermediary between industry and nature, between wasteland and cultural landscape. North explores geomorphology through artistic means. The surfaces of each individually selected stone, as well as the objects themselves, their volumes, densities, masses and colours, play a major role in the overall composition.

“Rock Suspension” is made up of stones strung on a chain that works like a Japanese “chain gutter” (kusari-toi). The water flowing through the rock that is usually hidden is made visible.

Finally, “Remainders” is a series of spheres cast by the artist himself. The spheres break up the rectilinear geometry of the courtyard and that of the surrounding architecture, setting a completely different tone.

www.jamienorth.com 

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