Projekt
Environmental Hangover by Pedro Wirz, Kunsthalle Basel
Environmental Hangover is the image of a planet after excess. For his largest institutional solo exhibition to date at Kunsthalle Basel, Pedro Wirz designed a world caught between a longing for nature and belief in progress, between ecological responsibility and unrestrained consumption. Organic materials met industrial fabrics, artisanal processes met the visual language of a technologized present. The exhibition revolved around the contradictions of a society that yearns for untouched nature while simultaneously demanding ever new products, devices, and developments.
At the center of this multifaceted cosmos stood Ovo Espacial : a monumental work made of wool, measuring 10.15 × 8 meters. Even the title – the "space egg" – opens a space for thought between origin and future, sanctuary and unknown world. The work appears less as a classic rug and more as a textile landscape: soft and physical, yet alien and of almost cosmic presence.
Projektinformationen
Steinenberg 7
CH-4051 Basel
2022
Basel Art Hall
Pedro Wirz
CH-Zurich
Philipp Hänger
CH-Aarau
Pedro Wirz combines personal memories of the tropical Vale do Paraíba in Brazil with natural science, folklore, and mythology in his work. His pieces tell stories of colonialism and raw material trade, technological progress, climate change, and species extinction – but never in the form of a clear message. Instead, mysterious spaces arise where material, history, and imagination overlap.
In Ovo Espacial wool becomes an artistic medium and the floor a picture surface. The work changes the perception of space: it is entered, circled, experienced up close, and read from a distance. Its dimension gives it a sculptural power, while the textile surface creates closeness and intimacy.
For Ruckstuhl Art Rugs stands Ovo Espacial as an example of a form of collaboration in which art is not transferred onto textile but developed together with the material. Ruckstuhl accompanied the new production for the exhibition with the knowledge and experience of its own rug and carpet manufactory. The result is a work that defies any purely functional interpretation: rug, image, landscape, and independent artistic presence all at once.
The realization of Ovo Espacial was donated by Ruckstuhl AG as a contribution in kind.
Eingesetztes Produkt
Concealed edge