Boris Rebetez - Columnist

A solo exhibition of Swiss artist Boris Rebetez. In 'Columnist', previously shown at Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz, a projection of over eighty black and white photographs transform VITRINE Bermondsey Street space into an immersive installation.

With his architectural intervention, Rebetez alters the physical nature of the space and activates it, creating a new environment for the viewer to inhabit. Working with the columns and architecture of the gallery, Rebetez’s photographs will be projected from within the walls into the gallery space. Images show details of neoclassical structures – columns, beams, pillars and arches – drawing the viewer from the urban context of the modern pillar, from which the projections stem, into a magnificent architectural past.

The nature of Rebetez’s work ensures that every encounter is unique. Each viewer will enter at a slightly different time; begin watching the photo progression at a different point; experience a different quality of light and shadow in the space. The viewer will bring their very personal context to the viewing of the photographs and the associations drawn from them.

The title of the installation exhibits a playful duality. ‘Columnist’ suggests a reporter who pens editorials for magazines and newspapers, whilst at the same time, in the context of the exhibition, the viewer understands a ‘Columnist’ to be the sculptor of physical columns. Taking on this role, Rebetez invites the viewer to see and experience the space in an entirely new way as a result of his interventions.

In ‘Columnist’, Rebetez exposes the viewer to two potential spaces – that of the physical installation and that of the past architecture on which the photographs reflect. In doing so, Rebetez creates a transitional space, constantly fluxing between the real and imagined, past and present.