SONIA KACEM, SULTAN 13352
at Piano Nobile, Geneva, December 2011
all images © WFW

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(Re-) using simple everyday objects which can be salvaged from urban space, the practice of SONIA KACEM involves a notion of practical recycling. There is no ‘aura’ of past times, no sense of nostalgia, rather, these common materials  – anything that catches her eye and triggers a sculptural response, having the right shape, color, volume – serve to set up a temporary structure, to claim space inside the exhibition room.

For the small gallery of Piano Nobile in Geneva, KACEM rolled up, crumpled, folded, juxtaposed and incorporated a large piece of paper, a folding screen, a perforated foam mattress, a piece of fabric, a tarpaulin and paints shavings creating an ephemeral and sensual topography, and incidentally revealing the distinguishing features of these elements. The installation negotiates beauty and disorder, the material and ephemeral within classic sculptural concerns of volume in space. It is a function of composition – formalist, ambiguous, unpretentious and aesthetically complex.

Swiss-Tunisian artist SONIA KACEM lives and works in Geneva. She studied at the Haute Ecole d’Art et de Design in Geneva and completed her Master’s Degree earlier this year (2011). Her work are currently featured in two exhibitions: at Galerie Gregor Staiger, Progress MI 07 in Zurich (through December 23rd , 2011) and at Piano Nobile, SULTAN 13352 in Geneva through December 17th , 2011.

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