Name: Exhibition Nicolas Polli: When Strawberries Will Grow on Trees, I Will Kiss U
Start: 2023-02-04T17:00:00+01:00
End: 2023-04-16T18:30:00+02:00

Diese Veranstaltung hat bereits stattgefunden.

Exhibition Nicolas Polli: When Strawberries Will Grow on Trees, I Will Kiss U

4 February 2023, 17:00 – 16 April 2023, 18:30

Nicolas Polli: When Strawberries Will Grow on Trees, I Will Kiss U

February 4 – April 16, 2023

Nicolas Polli’s solo exhibition explores the topics of loneliness, doubts, desire and intimacy from a humorous and at the same time vulnerable perspective. His photographs serve as a visual diary, revealing a new genre of still life that becomes a metaphorical examination of his state of mind in 2020. We follow Nicolas Polli confined during the lockdown in his private living space, peering into his kitchen, his bed and his thoughts. According to the artist we witness: “Three months in which I had to stop and look inside myself to find a combination of insecurity and poetry, longing and lust; showing a side of my character, and perhaps that of many men of our generation, which is weak and unable to fulfill the needs and goals set by ourselves and by contemporary society.” The photographs document dirty dishes, leftover food and unwashed socks. Moreover, text fragments in poem form tell of the burden of loneliness and become a fictional counterpart to which things are confided that otherwise remain unspoken. Polli’s works are emblematic of a world that ‘stands still’ and is inhabited by a person who no longer functions, who refuses to ‘succeed’. In this they differ fundamentally from the ‘reality’ propagated on social media, in which perfection, productivity and self-optimization are rewarded with “likes”. Since its invention, photography has been a powerful tool in constructing and documenting images of the body, particularly with regard to stereotypes and role models. Polli’s photographs offer an alternative perspective on emotionality and desire in our digital present, blurring the boundaries between sculpture, body, and the photographic image. In doing so, they subvert traditional notions of masculinity and present an honest portrait of vulnerability, captured and seen through the eyes of those who experience it. At the same time, they articulate a new genre of still life that presents photography as part of a scenography developed specifically for the exhibition that interacts directly with the bodies and senses of the visitor.

Nicolas Polli, born in Brusino Arsizio, Switzerland in 1989, studied Art Direction at ECAL Lausanne for his Master’s Degree. His photographic work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, notably at l’appartement – Espace Images Vevey, Espace Arlaud in Lausanne, Museum Brot in Ulm, Verzasca Foto Festival, Gibellina Photoroad, Coal Mine, Winterthur.

A co-production with Images Vevey. With the kind support of Canton Bern.

Curated by Jana Johanna Haeckel