diary: Manfred Pernice

February 8, 2007—In his forth solo show at Anton Kern Gallery, German sculptor Manfred Pernice uses geometry to depict the substance of time. One multi-element work occupies the gallery space, made of intersecting planes of precisely shaped sheets of plywood, particleboard or other composite materials. Square, hexagonal, and circular elements join up to form elevated surfaces that function as diaristic platforms, to which objects are added and stacked onto, as if adding a distinct entry onto the blank page of a personal journal.

Pernice uses the notion of the diary as the template for his joined-together geometric figure sculptures. Many of time’s complexities can be better understood when the spacequantifying models of geometry are applied to our conception of time. Here, the artist visualizes the relationship between a time-continuum (i.e. the horizontal surface-platform) and individual events in time (i.e. the distinct object-element). However, Pernice is not interested in chronology or historical time. Rather, he prefers an open system of synchronicity, in which recent occurrences entangle with historic events and disparate places, and in which the role of the aesthetic object (the sculpture) is considered as a communicator or conveyer of historical and critical thinking.

Pernice’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout Europe, e.g. at Documenta XI as well as the 50th Venice Biennale, most currently in Skulptur-Projekte Münster, Germany, and a one-person show entitled Haldensleben…, at the Museum Ludwig, Cologne (both 2007). At present, his work is presented in a solo show at the Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin (through March 16), and in Unmonumental, a survey of recent sculpture at the New Museum (through March 30). At the moment, Pernice is preparing a oneperson exhibition at the Neues Museum in Nürnberg (April 2008) and his participation in the Carnegie International (May 2008).