Faces Blooming from Concrete Lumps

In a former stable building in Bern's Zollikofen, Irene Schubiger is at work. Born in 1948 in Näfels, Switzerland, she has been a leading figure in Bern's art scene since the 1970s. On her studio windowsill sits a lump of concrete. With its multiple holes and attached scraps of red fabric, people see a face in this mass.

Foam, plaster, cardboard. These are the materials Schubiger primarily works with. Like the Arte Povera movement that began in 1960s Italy, she transforms ordinary everyday materials into art. However, her work maintains distance from radical minimalism. Figurative elements hide throughout—faces drawn with just a few lines, house shapes embedded in light-blue wax objects.

2024 Canton of Bern Artist Support Award

In 2024, Schubiger received the 'Werkbuch/cahier d'artiste' support award from the Canton of Bern. With this grant, she published the artist's book All of us. Photographed by Bern photographer Dominique Uldry, the book encompasses over 40 years of her artistic practice.

An exhibition celebrating the book's publication is being held at gallery annex14's showroom. This space is just a few minutes' walk from the artist's studio. Gallerist Suzanne Friedli noted that "this proximity is coincidental." The Zurich-based gallery she operates with partner Andreas Furrer focuses on conceptual art and minimalism.

The building housing the showroom is where ceramicist Margrit Linck (1897-1983) and sculptor Walter Linck (1903-1975) lived and worked from 1941. Schubiger maintained a close relationship with this couple. In the garden stand several of Walter Linck's sculptures composed of slender steel bands and geometric forms.

1987 Kunstmuseum Bern: Newspaper-Cloaked Ghosts

Schubiger's first performance took place at the Kunstmuseum Bern in 1987. She presented ghost-like figures wearing cloaks made of newspaper. This work demonstrated her attempt to combine baroque elements with minimalist forms.

In 2022, she received the Paul Bösch Art Prize (Paul-Bösch-Kunstpreis). The objects and drawings exhibited at annex14 are filled with humor and playfulness. Visitors discover faces in minimal lines, architectural structures in simple forms.

Ordinary Materials, Extraordinary Vision

Schubiger's work does not reject the lowliness of materials. Rather, she discovers new meaning in their ordinariness. Through her hands, concrete, foam, and cardboard become faces, houses, emotions.

The exhibition All of us can be seen at the annex14 showroom in Zollikofen. It's an opportunity to view at a glance the journey of an artist who has expanded art's boundaries with everyday materials for over 40 years.