We are delighted to present the exhibition Fragments of Narration, in which we feature works by seven artists from our program and one guest. A remark by the conceptual artist Simon Starling in his current exhibition at the Kunst Museum Winterthur provided the title for the show. Every artistic work is part of a larger, comprehensive practice. To grasp the peculiarities of individual pieces, it is important to know the complete œuvre of the respective artists. Furthermore, each work contains its own internal references and provides fragments of a larger narrative.

Bob Gramsma (*1963, lives in Zurich) is one of the most significant Swiss sculptors. Known for expansive Land Art, here he is consciously dedicating himself to the small scale, which adds a new dimension to his formal language. Gramsma constantly experiments with industrial mixtures and coatings: this time he surprises with a hybrid tree sculpture with accents of polymer plaster. Behind it, a neon work shines through a plaster surface mixed with coffee powder, while six small sculptures, some bearing small piles of creatine, hang in the window display. Through these organic, body-influencing substances, Gramsma adds a fleeting, conceptual layer to his material-based research. At the center of his work remain relational gaps in which human presence, atmospheric processes, erosion, and temporality materially inscribe themselves.

A high-hung self-portrait as a sky dweller by Dieter Roth (1930-1998) complements the group of works in the first room. Roth often portrayed himself in self-portraits, particularly in the early 1970s, where protruding ears and the indentation on the head are a recurring characteristic.

In the gallery exhibition Décorps, Pini focuses again on sculpture, photography, and relief. The title defines the semantic field of the show: the coined word "Décorps" refers both to décor (ornamentation, set dressing) and corps (the body). Pini occupies the first room of the exhibition with a series of metal works with resin cast inside titled Autour du cou à la hauteur des yeux (Around the neck at eye level). By hanging the sculptures at an exaggerated shoulder height and employing strict axial symmetry, Pini references jewellery and costume elements: collars and necklaces. These are adornments – perhaps accolades – for the absent figures who might wear them. The formal vocabulary draws from Art Nouveau and early 20th-century glass art. The translucent colours of the objects, which hang at a distance from the wall, lend them a floating lightness. Their placement creates the illusion of bodies; in Pini’s work, the absent body is always implied and part of the thought process.

This becomes particularly visible in the sculpture Amplification in the second room. A person is indicated solely by two fringed epaulettes attached to two symmetrically arranged rails. Fringed epaulettes typically elevate a male figure into a specific social position; for women, these shoulder pieces are primarily used as striking fashion accessories. This work is a reference to Pini’s exhibition at the Museo Vincenzo Vela, where she engaged with a major work by Vela: an imposing equestrian statue of Charles II, Duke of Brunswick, using it as a starting point to reflect on symbolism, mutability, masculinity and materiality.

To the left of Amplification hang three photographs depicting details of plaster sculptures from the Museo Vincenzo Vela. In this photographic series, Displaced Fractures, Pini directs her attention toward the fine, often overlooked details of the plaster figures. While this group of works refers explicitly to Vela’s sculptures, closer inspection reveals foreign bodies – hooks, nails, or wire structures. These are not merely functional elements, but silent witnesses to materiality, vulnerability, and construction. On one hand, they make the manual process of sculpting visible; on the other, they become symbols of physical frailty and psychological dislocation. Pini thus references a tradition in modern sculpture that understands the body not as a whole, but as a fragmented and reconstructed entity. Simultaneously, these works reverse the logic of Pini’s installations: they capture the representation of a body rather than creating a physical body in space, rendering the fragmentation and decorative aspects of the body both more mystical and more visible.

Two series of reliefs, a practice the artist has developed over years, complete the exhibition. The large-scale works are dedicated to the vegetation in the garden of the Museo Vincenzo Vela. These reliefs include motifs from the surroundings without reproducing them naturalistically, combining them with objects from the artist’s archive. Pini creates complex compositions and expands on her own mythology—returning to objects such as grapefruit pieces, lemons, or dragons while adding new narratives to her vocabulary. Through the mixture of found objects and artist-created ingredients, the audience is left uncertain about the origin, meaning, and purpose of the elements, invited instead to interpret what they see.

Following the first series, the second group of reliefs, At the Tip of the Tieback, continues the dialogue with nature while heightening the theatrical aspect of the exhibition. This series was created in early 2026 during Pini’s residency at the Bogliasco Center in Liguria. While Pini again uses vegetation from the immediate surroundings – in this case, the gardens of the Bogliasco Center – she enriches these compositions with new narrative fragments: small figurines and curtain tassels. A significant novelty here is the inclusion of the frame as an integral part of the works. As a result, the reliefs transform into independent stage elements that scenographically complete the bodies implied in the space.

Despite its conceptual depth, the body of work in Décorps is not without humour. Viewers are constantly challenged to guess what they are seeing and which illusion they are falling for. Valentina Pini thus acts as a puppeteer, staging symbolic bodies in space and playing with their fragile yet imposing nature to create what is perhaps a theatrical experience.

Installation views