Bianca Bondi

currently lives and works in Paris, France
Website: www.biancabondi.com

Published Thursday April 26, 2018
all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Galerie 22,48 m², Paris

Things come undone, dissolve, thaw (mor), 2018                                                                                                                                                                                                 Gradually, then Suddenly, exhibition view​ at 22,48 m²
PMMA tubes, copper, salt crystals, salt, sea sand, shells, latex, silk, steel, stones, quartz crystals
110,2 x 70 x 70,8 inches (280 x 178 x 180 cm)
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Things come undone, dissolve, thaw (male hud), 2018
PMMA tubes, copper, salt crystals, latex, steel, soap, soapstone
59 x 40,1 x 27,5 inches (150 x 102 x 70 cm)

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When did you start learning and being interested in ritual practice?
I started experimenting as a kid, really young in fact. It was a very natural and instinctive way to keep in contact with loved ones who had passed.

​​Have you done tasseography? 
I have experimented with all sorts of divination practices, but my tea and coffee get too cold before I can get to the bottom of them.

Are there any parallels or similarities between ritual and art?
Art is a form of ritual, the difference comes down to intent.

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Things come undone, dissolve, thaw (male hud), 2018
PMMA tubes, copper, salt crystals, latex, steel, soap, soapstone
​59 x 40,1 x 27,5 inches (150 x 102 x 70 cm)

The title of your solo exhibition "Gradually, then Suddenly" at 22,48 m²​ alludes to the properties of time, How does time relate to the content of your work?
The title was borrowed from Hemingway’s novel, “the sun also rises”; the quote goes “How did you go bankrupt?" Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.” I thought this to be a fitting response to our times especially ecologically, but also spiritually. The notion and experience of time is essential to understanding my work, this is because the majority of the materials I choose to work with are unstable, fragile, and have a transformative dimension to them.
Throughout my installations or even certain of my paintings things mutate, grow like crystals, or they disintegrate, melt, dry; a slow-process conceptual performance of the material elements themselves. There is a peak moment when the work is at its ideal, this changes for each viewer, then there is the descent and what remains. Everything tangible is temporary.
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Untitled (Second quarter plan), 2017
Latex, salt, oxidation on paper
​230 x 180 cm

 
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Temperature has a great influence on the chemical reaction between metals and oxygen and the growth rate of salt crystals,  how do you control the temperature of an environment when you work with salt?
I purposely do not control elements such as the temperature of a room or its level of humidity, I allow my works to be affected by their surroundings as is. The relationship of the work within a space is a symbiotic process.

There are contradictions between the fragile materials, such as metal, plants, and latex, and the growth of salt crystals. The materials deal with decomposition of time while salt crystals keep on growing. This connection contributes the motifs of growth and decay, does it also contribute to the theme of rebirth?
The crystals are fragile themselves, they are dependent on moisture to grow and are extremely sensitive to vibrations and temperature for example. I wouldn't talk about rebirth so much as metamorphosis and transformation, a flux of states and accumulation and decumulation of matter. The boxes are presented up as time capsules, this is true, but I like to see them as speaking of the past and simultaneously being of the future. I suppose there is this representation of rebirth, then there is also death, just as there is suggestion of communicating beyond the living because the objects I chose to encapsulate are clearly those of an esoteric nature. The objects are specifically chosen for their trajectories through time; they are also objects chosen because they come from symbolic places or are preferred for their intrinsic properties.

Bloom (Hauntings), 2018
Plexiglass, kangaroo paw, lichen, tin, copper, iron, quartz crystals, paper, matches, crystals of different chemical compositions, various objects, salt
4,7 x 19,6 x 27,5 inches (50 x 70 x 12 cm)

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What is your work process like?
Chance encounters and collecting, be that of words or objects- treasure hunting, and then there is a lot of trial and error. I allow materials to take the time they need to take, so I constantly have to be working on various projects or experiments simultaneously. 

Have you been to Dead Sea? It has some interesting looking salt crystals.​
I have never been to the Dead sea but I have heard and seen insane salt crystals produced there so it's on my bucket list. Did you know that the oceans are gradually becoming saltier? The salt of the sea is actually from mineral sediment from the earth's crust. I listened to an awesome podcast about sea salt the other day on "Stuff to blow your mind", the episode was called "Don't drink the salt water".

M E R, 2017
Glass, copper, pilea peperomioides, soap, wasps, salt crystals, fur
170 x 250 x 150 cm

You did a residency in Bergen, Norway last year, is there any connection between the experience in Norway and these works: Things come undone, dissolve, thaw (mor), Things come undone, dissolve (male hud), and Things come undone, dissolve, thraw (tørrhud)?
Yes, I am happy you picked that up. I spent a month living in Bergen last year and this was just before my solo show in Paris, so I used this time to test my first tubular installation, M E R. Most of the formal aspects and inspiration for the future transparent tube installations were developed during my time there, as was my use of soap as a transformative material. As homage to the birthplace of these formal aspects, I named each piece using the Norwegian translation- I also liked the exoticism and curiousness of combining of the two languages.
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Gradually, then Suddenly, exhibition view​ at 22,48 m²
Things come undone, dissolve, thaw (tørrhud), 2018
PMMA tubes, copper,  crystals of different chemical compositions, salt, latex, fur, soap
27,5 x 77,1 x 69,2 inches (196 x 176 x 70 cm)

Bloom (Tea reading), 2018
Plexiglass, kangaroo paw, lichen, copper, silver, tin alloy, wasp, paper, crystals of different chemical compositions, various objects, salt
4,7 x 19,6 x 27,5 inches (50 x 70 x 12 cm)

      Things come undone, dissolve, thaw (tørrhud), 2018 (detail)
      PMMA tubes, copper,  crystals of different chemical compositions, salt, latex, fur, soap 
      27,5 x 77,1 x 69,2 inches (196 x 176 x 70 cm)

Do the materials and objects have souls? Do you see them as objects?​
Not souls per se, but vibrations and aura, an energy archive that resonates on a different plane. I am reading an amazing book right now which I would highly recommend, Graham Harmon's Object Oriented Ontology (OOO theory); bluntly put it is the idea that objects exist independent to human perception. I am definitely interested in the idea of animism, that all "objects" contain a spiritual essence. This essence is transformative, meaning objects can acquire their aura through activation (ritual or other) or simply their passage through time.

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Bloom (Cigarette break), 2018                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Bloom series, booth view at ART Cologne 2018
Quartz amethyst flower, kangaroo paw, thistles, lichen, copper, crystals of different chemical compositions and various objects, salt
​23,6 x 11,8 x 11,8 inches (60 x 30 x 30 cm)

Bloom (Cigarette break), 2018 (detail)
Quartz amethyst flower, kangaroo paw, thistles, lichen, copper, crystals of different chemical compositions and various objects, salt
23,6 x 11,8 x 11,8 inches (60 x 30 x 30 cm)