VERENA BACHL AND RHYS HIMSWORTH

VERENA BACHL: GRACEFUL DEGRADATION

Under the title Graceful Degradation, German artist Verena Bachl investigates the persistence of functional objects and industrial fragments beyond their intended utility through sculptures and spatial installations. Working at the intersection of infrastructure, geology, and artefact, Bachl traces gradual transformation processes. Systems no longer function as designed, yet they retain their former operational logic as a material echo.

Rather than focusing on sudden collapse, her work explores fragile states of suspension where light turns into a tangible surface and reflection becomes a structural element. What emerges is a continuous, autonomous reconfiguration of charged matter that eludes human control.

RHYS HIMSWORTH: MENHIR

Welsh artist Rhys Himsworth meets this quiet decay in his exhibition Menhir. Situated at the fault line between high-tech manufacturing and raw resource extraction, Himsworth draws on the form of Neolithic standing stones that have endured for millennia as enigmatic monuments. For his works, he casts shredded e-waste such as circuit boards, hard drives, and LCD displays into solid resin blocks before carving them with a computer-controlled CNC router.

This process resembles an archaeological excavation. Following digitally mapped geological rock formations, the milling bit exposes layers of contemporary circuitry that condense global supply chains and disposal routes into single, artificial sediments.

Together, both positions challenge the promise of technological permanence. They bring the fleeting nature of our material present into sharp focus, positioned somewhere between industrial ruins and the future fossils of our throwaway culture.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

• OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY, 13 NOVEMBER, 18:00 - 21:00
• ARTIST TALK RHYS HIMSWORTH: SATURDAY, 14 NOVEMBER, 13:00
• ARTIST TALK VERENA BACHL: WEDNESDAY, 02 DECEMBER, 18:00

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

VERENA BACHL

Grounded in a conceptual, post-minimalist tradition, Verena Bachl works across sculpture and installation. Through deliberate combinations of architectural hardware, structural elements, glass, metal, and stone, her practice interrogates how raw matter and physical forces reshape spatial environments.

Bachl was shortlisted for the BBA Artist Prize in 2022. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at Ars Electronica, the Noise Media Art Fair in Istanbul, and Miminat Designs in London. Most recently, she was featured in Himmel unter Berlin and at the Italian Embassy.

RHYS HIMSWORTH

Welsh artist Rhys Himsworth combines traditional media such as printmaking and sculpture with digital fabrication. Central to his practice is the transformation of electronic waste: his works examine the intersection of raw resource extraction and technological production, revealing how earthly minerals are reshaped into the devices that define our daily lives.

Himsworth’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, Art Karlsruhe, and the CICA Museum in Seoul.