Fine Art Prints on Baryta, Framed
each 65 × 45 cm
2018

 

In Bianca Pedrina’s Pompei per tutti, the artist carefully inspects the relationship between form and function in the accessibility project of the same name carried out by Grande Progetto Pompei in 2017. This impressive architectural intervention, undertaken by a team of engineers, architects and archaeologists, results in various modern enhancements throughout the archaeological site.
One such construction is an iron netting which seems to ooze in between limestone steps underfoot, rarely to be noticed by the thousands of tourists which pass over them each day.
Pedrina’s photographs examine the existence, purpose, and design of these metal screens. As is often the case in her work, here she celebrates the unspectacular details of architecture and those deep traces of human experience which are deposited throughout. Due to their unusual and highly unique forms, these screens seem to take on their own character and life as objects in their own right, while also granting access to the countless historical treasures in their immediate surroundings.
Pedrina sees parallels between these screens and her presentation for the 2018 Swiss Art Awards in Basel. Just as the metal gates adapt expertly to their surroundings, so must her work (and the Awards itself) when nestled within the goliath art fair in its midst. The juried awards for local rising artists is a curious addition to the surrounding chaos of consumerism and superstardom reverberating throughout the city, and Pedrina brings this consciousness into her work. Her bent frames allow her photographs to conform to the space allotted in her booth, but also to stand alone as art objects which try to escape their physical environment. Much like the metal screens of Pompei, Pedrina’s work adjusts itself to the physical surroundings while still standing alone as a deliberate and sincere statement.

Text: Elizabeth Stevens

 

Installation view Swiss Art Awards 2018