Texts
Texts are mostly written for catalogues or workshops
and very often related to research work with Corpus
Some texts from authors or critics in the field are sometimes translated into french
(They will be online soon)
Some chronicles, earlier posted on the Lapponia Jewellery site, will be available in a special section here soon
Here is something basic for those who approach Christophe Burger's work,
written in 1999 for a solo show in Barcelona entitled Translucidez (Translucency )
Translucency / Distanciation
In an era when one part of the world is striving to accelerate exchanges –of information, technologies and currencies, or between individuals- while the other part seems to question this and occasionally suffer from this acceleration, the question of the relations between form and substance remains a crucial issue.
In search of values, of unquestionable markers, I can legitimately attempt to examine my creative work in light of these relations: how can I convey what I want to express and what is the meaning of that to which I give shape – including sometimes through conventional formulae, if I’m not careful ?
It was through reading an article about the Internet by Japanese writer Kenzaburo Ôé, that I was able to establish connections between certain developments in my work and to better understand them.
For some time already I have been using, in my jewellery as well as in art pieces, a certain number of materials sharing the common denominator of translucency: sandblasted glass, various papers (Japanese, silk, tracing papers,…), paraffin wax and heat shrinkable tube. The clearly stated aim of these obstacles to vision, to direct perception, is of course to create the tension –implying due attention- required to enable true meaning to shine through.
In his article, Kenzaburo Ôé evokes this distance, this tension, in relation to Russian formalism and more specifically to the process the formalists called «ostranenie», best defined as defamiliarization, or estrangement. This literary process, which consists in delaying the transmission of meaning, «serves to restore to words the resistance one senses when touching objects».
It is this particular sentence that enlighted me.
To produce meaning through gradual revelation to (re-)establish consistency through a certain resistance, seems to me to quite accurately describe the nature of my approach as an artist and a jewellery designer.
C.Burger/ April 1999
and very often related to research work with Corpus
Some texts from authors or critics in the field are sometimes translated into french
(They will be online soon)
Some chronicles, earlier posted on the Lapponia Jewellery site, will be available in a special section here soon
Here is something basic for those who approach Christophe Burger's work,
written in 1999 for a solo show in Barcelona entitled Translucidez (Translucency )
Translucency / Distanciation
In an era when one part of the world is striving to accelerate exchanges –of information, technologies and currencies, or between individuals- while the other part seems to question this and occasionally suffer from this acceleration, the question of the relations between form and substance remains a crucial issue.
In search of values, of unquestionable markers, I can legitimately attempt to examine my creative work in light of these relations: how can I convey what I want to express and what is the meaning of that to which I give shape – including sometimes through conventional formulae, if I’m not careful ?
It was through reading an article about the Internet by Japanese writer Kenzaburo Ôé, that I was able to establish connections between certain developments in my work and to better understand them.
For some time already I have been using, in my jewellery as well as in art pieces, a certain number of materials sharing the common denominator of translucency: sandblasted glass, various papers (Japanese, silk, tracing papers,…), paraffin wax and heat shrinkable tube. The clearly stated aim of these obstacles to vision, to direct perception, is of course to create the tension –implying due attention- required to enable true meaning to shine through.
In his article, Kenzaburo Ôé evokes this distance, this tension, in relation to Russian formalism and more specifically to the process the formalists called «ostranenie», best defined as defamiliarization, or estrangement. This literary process, which consists in delaying the transmission of meaning, «serves to restore to words the resistance one senses when touching objects».
It is this particular sentence that enlighted me.
To produce meaning through gradual revelation to (re-)establish consistency through a certain resistance, seems to me to quite accurately describe the nature of my approach as an artist and a jewellery designer.
C.Burger/ April 1999