Perla-Mode, Zürich
An exhibition with works by Esther Mathis, Lucy Marthaler, Felix Schregenberger

We are fragile beings and in this fragility we find beauty. The fragility of emotions, of creativity, of relationships. Everything seems to hang on tiny threads, able to be destroyed in an instant, or hover in the mysterious space between collapse and stability. Most of the time we live in this «in-between». The tension between fragility and strength keeps us standing so we can face the world. We need strength for dignity. Strength to move on, even though it is difficult.

The works by Esther Mathis, Lucy Marthaler, and Felix Schregenberger are placed in this seemingly mystic space between both strength and delicateness. They anticipate and risk possible collapse, while simultaneously demonstrating tenacious strength. Schregenberger makes a rock, weighing almost a ton, levitate by placing it on thin steel cables, while Mathis’s test-glasses hang on the brink of falling to pieces, only delicately held by tiny threads amidst a gentle breeze. Mathis and Schregenberger’s pieces challenge the physical limits of objects; whereas, Marthaler confronts herself and the viewer with the limits of body and mind. With a sense of self–irony and «poetic eroticism», Marthaler exposes her fears of leaving her fantasies. 

Fantastic Fragility ... and how it’s difficult to move on invites you into the richness of dreams and worlds inside creators. Mathis, Marthaler and Schregenberger’s works embrace fragility and celebrate the fantastic. Harsh realities face all of us outside; but now we are inside, for a while anyway.