from the series Replaying the mistake of a broken hammer, 2011
polish steel rod subjected to an interrupted process of tempering, 6 cm x 130 cm
installation view at Liste Basel, 2011

Beginning with the first thing that comes to mind, 2011
photograms on photographic color paper using the gently burning spores of the mossplant Lycopdium
installation view at Fluxia Milano, 2011

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from the series Lycopodiumprints, 2011
photograms on photographic color paper using the gently burning spores of the mossplant Lycopdium

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from the series Lycopodiumprints, 2011
photograms on photographic color paper using the gently burning spores of the mossplant Lycopdium

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from the series Lycopodiumprints, 2011
photograms on photographic color paper using the gently burning spores of the mossplant Lycopdium

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Launching Rocket Never Gets Old, 2012
installation view at Camden Arts Centre

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Launching Rocket Never Gets Old, 2012
installation view at Camden Arts Centre

all images courtesy RAPHAEL HEFTI

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The relationship of object to image is not my point of departure. I’m interested more broadly in the properties of materials. Museum glass originally is designed as an invisible object, almost a non-object that you aren’t supposed to notice. By adding several layers of this ant-reflective coating the original malfunction of the material is reversed. The coating breaks the light, which then appears as colour, depending on the ambient light. Some of them are transparent, some of them are very opaque. What does one see when the work is in front of the window? I’m exploring how the works are interacting with the qualities of the space they’re in. – RAPHAEL HEFTI in conversation with PHYLLIDA BARLOW, December 2011

Swiss artist RAPHAEL HEFTI has been using photography as a starting point to explore his wider curiosity about the history of materials and sites of scientific discovery. His practice implicates a kind of alchemy, whether he be forming steel poles as fragile as glass, growing mushrooms in the dark room or illuminating entire mountainsides. Coming from a technical background with a keen interest in how things are made and what things can do, HEFTI sets-up scientific experiments which challenge industrial fabricators and ultimately divert objects from their original state.

HEFTI completed his MA at the Slade School of Fine Art in 2011 and his recent solo exhibitions include 327 Different Sounds at Coalmine Galerie, Winterthur, Switzerland and Beginning with the first thing that comes to mind at Fluxia, Milan (both 2010).

And good news: HEFTI‘s new solo exhibition entitled Launching Rockets Never Gets Old is currently on view at Camden Arts Centre in London through March 18th, 2012.