And This Old World is a New World
La Bibi Gallery
Bianca Barandun, Anna Nero, Callum Green, Karolina Albricht & Erika Trotzig.
November - January 2025
What are questions for if not to create a new world with them? “And This Old World Is a New World” is a group exhibition that marks a paradigm shift in the gallery, bringing together the work of Bianca Barandun, Anna Nero, Callum Green, Karolina Albricht, and Erika Trotzig. Almost all the works were produced during the artists’ residency, influenced by the context of the island and the surroundings of the gallery. In this sense, the exhibition has been an elastic process, stretched over time and in constant evolution. With each new residency, it has developed in layers, privileging processes and questions over objects and certainties.
The result is not a collection of fixed works, but a momentary encounter as part of the journey, recognizing the changing nature of the world we inhabit, characterized by fluctuations, imbalances, and a multiplicity of perspectives. From structures on the verge of collapse to explorations of language, the participating artists draw interesting connections between the presence of the body and the physical and symbolic space that surrounds us. How can we define our position in a changing context? Perhaps artistic practice is not only a means to situate ourselves in the world, but also a way to collectively imagine and co-create new ones.
In this context, Bianca Barandun (1984, Switzerland) addresses the limits of language and the universe of signs in which we are immersed. Her research reveals the reality of language as a transitional and constantly evolving structure, much like liquid clay that dries and changes shape in the studio to configure her wall installations.
Anna Nero (1988, Russia), for her part, approaches painting through form, configuring imaginary architectures that find an almost impossible balance between structure and intuition. In her new series produced in Mallorca, the fluid shapes and vibrant colors suggest spaces that seem to invite sliding through like slides, peeking into other dimensions.
Callum Green (1991, UK) embarks on a path toward abstraction, centering his practice on the materiality of paint. For him, the canvas is a space for color experimentation, rather than a place for representation. His paintings operate on different levels, where layers and stains converse with the surface, creating a visual effect that keeps the gaze in constant movement between different depths.
Karolina Albricht (1983, Poland) approaches painting with a focus on the diversity of formats and the richness of textures, highlighting the importance of touch and materiality in her work. In a process guided by curiosity, she explores how the movement of the body and its relationship with the environment translate into the pictorial field, resulting in active visual spaces that dislocate perception.
The textures and accumulations in Erika Trotzig’s (1971, Sweden) work take on a sculptural form, always in process. Her sculptures are bodies in evolution, rising and falling. These precarious and unstable structures find their balance and claim their space in the exhibition room, reflecting the tension between stability and change. Her work extends beyond the exhibition space to integrate into the new sculpture garden of the gallery.
In the face of collapse, when structures degrade to the point of no longer bearing their own weight, the new world permanently resides within the old as a latent possibility. We might just need to ask the right questions again and dare to imagine it.