
SIMON BERGER
SIMON BERGER
Simon Berger Simon Berger lives and works in Niederönz, Switzerland
Having devised a revolutionary technique of working glass, Simon Berger proposes a new portraiture in his medium of choice by carving images of great allure from the depth of his vitreous canvases. Against traditional modes of sculpting in three-dimensional ways, his is a ‘painterly‘ gesture that harnesses the affordances of the brittle material in a reversal of long- standing modi operandi. Through bold strokes of a hammer on the glass surface, Simon Berger turns the destructive force of his tool into an amplifier of effects as the resultant cracks and creases form into faces whose piercing expression resonates with the impactful process of ‘morphogenesis‘ as the artist himself refers to his creative ordeal. A sort of anti-creation that speaks to a unique artistic vision Simon Berger has refined over the course of years.
Contrary to expectations of how glass should be handled, Simon Berger exploits its fragility and transparence, constantly pushing its limits against the physical laws of the material - a demonstration of the improbable which ultimately allows for beauty to emerge. Creative intuition, technical skill and continuous innovation characterise Simon Berger‘s practice which probes the expressive capabilities of an inert material commonly destined for factories. His vitreous paintings challenge habits of seeing as the glass canvases become sites where visual perception is held in constant suspense by the deconstructing and reconstructing image. Glass, the most capricious of all media for artistic expression, acts as a place where the force of a unique sculptural gesture translates into depictions of mesmerising appeal. Of exceptional photorealistic allure, these portraits enthral for their expressiveness, as if animated from within and resonating with life.
-
“Human faces have always fascinated me“ - Simon Berger asserts. It is this fascination with the face - the canvas of the soul - that lies at the heart of his artistic research which he translates into mesmerising portraits of great allure. Their power thereby resides not only in the expressive force of the sitter‘s eyes but moreover the artist’s material of choice. Glass, one of the hitherto undervalued media for creative endeavours, serves iwith its rich semantics as a starting point for a portraiture of unprecedented kind. The cracks and creases Simon Berger drives into the surface of his vitreous material resonate with the force of powerful incursion, thereby creating an echo that reverberates through the final image he carves and utlimately liberates from the depth of the glass pane. In its dichotomous nature - liquid and solid, transparent and opaque, fragile and strong - glass acts as an animated support for a new hyperrealistic portraiture. A material that lends itself to a double modality of being looked both at and through, it affords a subtle play with and allusion to the innumerable facets that constitute the human psyche and mind. Deemed one of the greatest - for impenetrable and hence unresolved - mysteries, the human condition is revealed in its fragile strength through the artist who virtuously exploits the transparency of the glass pane by daring a glance ‘beyond painting‘. The human face, the most elaborate of all masks, emerges inadvertently in a form of anticreation, coming into being through the shattering stroke of Simon Berger‘s bold artistic gesture. By this revolutionary creative act, modes of seeing and perceiving are questioned as the image constantly hovers between disintegration and reconstitution, intrinsically bound to the viewer‘s perspective. The perceptual challenge Simon Berger confronts the beholder with proves integral to his work, a reversal of common habits of looking rooted in a tradition of the ‘static‘ picture. Instead, his are portraits whose dynamic nature speaks to an aesthetic phenomenology in the perception of art that lives by the concrete, physical experience of the glass canvas. “The artwork is present“, the (new) adage goes. A presence whose seductive force intimately ties beholder to beheld as the vitreous surface turns into a mirror for the viewer to project themselves.
Text by Sandrine Welte
Information
You can find future exhibitions on our page:
You can find Simon Berger’s portfolio here:
inquire
Please get in touch with us here
Galleries
Books
With this publication, we take a look back at the development of Simon Berger's art. Over the last few years, Simon Berger has developed into a pioneer of art with glass and has presented his works worldwide in solo and group exhibitions.
This edition of 70 pieces will be personally signed and numbered by Simon Berger.
— 216 pages
— Dimension: 30/22 cm
— Price incl. Shipping within Switzerland and Europe, for all other countries we have to charge USD 25 for shipping
— Price excl. import taxes to your country
Signed Edition
— Limited Edition of 70
— Each copy is signed and numbered by Simon Berger
— USD 350 incl. shipping to Switzerland and Europe
— USD 25 additionally for shipping to all other countries
Regular Book
— Unlimited Edition
— USD 150 incl. shipping to Switzerland and Europe
— USD 25 additionally for shipping to all other countries
Selected Press Articles
“Quando il vetro prende vita: Simon Berger a Venezia”, Il Giornale Dell’Arte, 01.08.2025, Nicoletta Biglietti
“Das Spiel mit der Zerbrechlichkeit”, Schweizer Illustrierte, 25.07.2024, by Manuela Donati
Read an article about Simon Berger’s works at Volta Basel 2024:
“I ritratti in vetro frantumato di Simon Berger in mostra a Venezia”, Artribune, 31.03.2023, Adriana Scalise
Venice's magician of glass art, Documentary about Adriano Berengo with interviews by the artists Laure Prouvost, Ai Weiwei, Koen Vanmechelen, Simon Berger, Chila Kumari Burman and Javier Pérez.
By Eike Schmitz for Arte TV
Exhibitions
Simon Berger
The Four Icons
in collaboration with
Berengo Studio
Permanent Installation
St. Regis, Venice, Italy
From July 2025 onwards
At St. Regis Venice, history is never merely remembered – it is continuously reimagined. In Simon Berger’s new installation “The Four Icons,” created in collaboration with Berengo Studio , Simon Berger honours four figures whose legacies remain woven into the fabric of this remarkable place: Claude Monet, Carlo Scarpa, Caroline Astor, and Marchesa Luisa Casati.
-
Each icon carries a different dimension of influence. Monet, whose brush captured Venice’s fleeting light like no other, embodies the city’s impressionistic beauty. Scarpa, the Venetian architect and designer, represents its modernist elegance and structural poetry. Caroline Astor, the matriarch of the original St. Regis in New York, reflects timeless sophistication and hospitality as an art form. And Marchesa Luisa Casati, the legendary muse and patroness, symbolises Venice’s theatrical mystique – a woman who declared her wish to be a living work of art.
For Simon, whose practice lies in sculpting glass portraits that emerge through force and precision, these four icons are more than historic personalities. They are reflections of the material itself: transparent yet strong, fragile yet defiant. By working with Berengo Studio – a beacon of Murano’s glass-making mastery – Simon situates his contemporary vision within a lineage of centuries-old Venetian craftsmanship.
“The Four Icons” is not simply an installation. It is a tribute to a hotel that has hosted legends, to a city that turns memory into myth, and to glass as a medium that, like Venice, reveals its beauty through tension, light, and quiet resilience.
© NOA contemporary
Simon Berger
A Matter of Metamorphosis
in collaboration with
Cris Contini Contemporary
Solo Exhibition
Municipality of Casarsa della Delizia, Pordenone, Italy
12 April — 27 July 2025
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Pier Paolo Pasolini's death, Casarsa della Delizia (PN) - the birthplace of his mother, where the great poet, writer, and filmmaker spent formative years of his poetic inspiration and where he is buried - becomes a stage for contemporary art in his honor, while also paying tribute to another great European author, Franz Kafka.
-
Curated by Sandrine Welte and Pasquale Lettieri and coordinated by project manager Sandra Sanson, "A Matter of Metamorphosis" is part of the cultural project 'TrasformARTI: Art as a Tool to Imagine the Future', which explores themes of change and metamorphosis in society. Simon Berger's works establish a dialogue between past and present, inviting reflection on the human condition and the world around us. His pieces also touch on themes of solitude and alienation, central to Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis. Through his unique technique of working with glass, Berger captures the existential fracture and sense of disconnection that permeate Kafka's narrative, evoking in the viewer an inner conflict and estrangement that define the human experience.
The "A Matter of Metamorphosis" installation is conceived as a journey where the audience engages with themes of transformation, isolation, and hope. At the heart of the exhibition, an immersive setting combines technological devices with freestanding glass panels, creating a powerful visual and emotional experience.
The exhibition project is organized by the Municipality of Casarsa della Delizia with the support of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, in collaboration with Cris Contini Contemporary, the Pier Paolo Pasolini Study Center in Casarsa, Pro Casarsa della Delizia APS, Contemporary&Co, and the Enrico Galvani State Art High School.
©Jessica Zufferli
Simon Berger
Solo exhibition
in collaboration with
Cris Contini Contemporary
Solo Exhibition
Church of the Artists, Rome, Italy
4 April — 4 May 2025
The London-based gallery Cris Contini Contemporary is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition by Simon Berger, “Between Mother and Son”, on view from April 4 to May 4, 2025, at the Church of the Artists in Rome — a place steeped in history and art.
Organized on the occasion of the Twenty-Fifth Ordinary Jubilee of the Catholic Church and curated by Pasquale Lettieri and Sandra Sanson, the exhibition offers an emotional journey into the symbolic and visual universe of one of the most innovative artists on the contemporary art scene.
-
The opening event will be held on Friday, April 4, at 5:00 PM, in the presence of distinguished guests, including Bishop Antonio Staglianó, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, Fulvio Granocchia, Cristian Contini, and the two curators. The evening will feature a musical performance by a pianist and a soprano, with a presentation by Paola Zanoni.
At the heart of the exhibition, coordinated by Project Manager Sara Galardi, are two monumental works, Virgin Mary and Christ, both created in 2023. These extraordinary 200 x 200 cm pieces, made of wood and laminated safety glass, depict the faces of the Virgin Mother and Christ.
Simon Berger’s artistic expression delves into a profound reflection on the perception of reality and the symbolic power of images. Regarding the exhibition’s theme, Bishop Staglianó provides a crucial interpretative key:
"What exists ‘between’ Mother and Son? Generativity, this powerful reality that allows the other to exist through love. The artistic gesture proposed here seeks to educate the gaze toward the profound reality present in every authentic human relationship. Without generativity, everything is false—mere fiction, simulation. Beyond and within the masks we wear, we must learn to ‘perceive faces.’ This requires an openness of the heart, a purification of the eyes to receive a new light. The faces of Mary and Christ are this light—piercing through the cracks of a society reluctant to generate through love, yet eager to produce hallucinating simulations."
This reflection aligns perfectly with Berger’s artistic approach, where his innovative technique transforms glass into a portal to the depths of human existence. Every crack and fracture in the glass becomes a window into the soul, challenging the viewer’s perception and understanding of reality.
The monumental works Virgin Mary and Christ find a natural setting in the Church of the Artists, a historic venue that has long been a meeting point for art, spirituality, and contemplation. Berger’s deep aesthetic and conceptual exploration seamlessly merges with the sacred and inspiring atmosphere of this space.
The two works are presented in a site-specific and immersive installation. The self-supporting glass panels are arranged in such a way that they create a pathway, guiding the viewer through a labyrinth of fragmented images—only fully recognizable when seen in their overlapping perspective. This visual interplay invites reflection on the process of perception, encouraging the mind to reconstruct meanings and reassemble images while moving through the space.
The experience is enriched by the transparency of the material, which interacts with light and depth, allowing for multiple, layered interpretations. The cracks and breaks in the glass are not merely aesthetic elements but a visual language that conveys both fragility and strength. As Sandrine Welte observes in her text dedicated to the artist, Berger’s work transcends conventional “beauty” to embrace the sublime, transforming destruction into an act of profound and meaningful creation.
In 2023, these works were presented at the Civic Museum of Sansepolcro in the exhibition “The Doors of Perception”, which received widespread acclaim for its ability to challenge traditional visual perception. Now, with "Tra Madre e Figlio", Simon Berger takes this exploration even further, delving into the relationship between mother and son as a symbol of creation and revelation, and into the deeper realms of human thought.
Art critic Pasquale Lettieri emphasizes that Berger’s work transcends the boundaries between the material and the immaterial, giving life to artworks that not only challenge vision but also provoke a deeper perception of existence. Berger’s pieces are not merely to be seen—they must be felt, experienced, and understood through an intimate and profound interaction with the audience.
Opening Hours:
Monday to Friday: 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Sunday: 11:30 AM – 1:30 PMThe exhibition will be held at the Church of the Artists, Piazza del Popolo, 18, 00187 Rome.
© Anna Toffanello
Simon Berger
The Sublime Nature of Being
Curated by Ambika Hinduja Macker
in collaboration with
Cris Contini Contemporary
Group exhibition
ICD Brookfield, Dubai
15 January — 22 February 2025
For centuries, artists have been fascinated by the Sublime.
Stemming from the Latin ‘sublimus,’ meaning ‘uplifted’ or ‘high,’ the Sublime is a philosophical approach and state of mind that describes a quality of such greatness, be it spiritual, physical, aesthetic, or moral that our ability to perceive or comprehend it is temporarily overwhelmed by a sense of wonder and impermanence of the universe.
-
What is the sensation we feel while interacting with nature when words fail and we find ourselves awed beyond reason? How does an artist convey the indescribable and translate the metaphysical into the material?
With her unique curatorial vision, artist Ambika Hinduja Macker, founder and creative director of the art and design firm Impeccable Imagination, explores these questions through a reimagining of her 2022 immersive art experience, The Sublime Nature of Being. In collaboration with ICD Brookfield Place, she invites viewers to engage emotionally, imaginative and sensorially, embracing the universal human experience of awe and reverence inspired by nature.
Featuring innovative works by an acclaimed roster of internationally renowned contemporary artists, this sequel celebrates the profound interplay between the elements, Water, Fire, Earth, Air, and Spirit, to bathe participants in an immersive world that transcends the physical realm.
Embark on a multi-sensory journey, where the fluid grace of water rejuvenates the soul, fire ignites passion and the strength of the earth grounds you. Feel and inhale the lightness of the air as it embodies freedom and inspiration. Allow the essence of spirit, weaving through each element, to resonate with the deepest part of your being, reminding you of the humbling purity of the cosmos and the interconnectedness of all life.
Embracing the modern interpretation of the Japanese term ‘Ukiyo,’ meaning to live in the moment, detached from the concerns of life, The Sublime Nature of Being guides the audience on a unique journey in search of a higher truth conjured through the magic of creativity. Be transported to a sanctuary of tranquil beauty, a temporary reprieve and poetic antidote to the external chaos of the present day.
Described by the curator as an ‘Alchemic Sonic Environment,’ The Sublime Nature of Being features sculptures, drawings and paintings, three dimensional installations, sound and scent, a play on time and space, contrasts of light and shadow, elemental materials and fluid forms, intertwining aesthetics and ethics, anchoring the healing power of nature at the heart of lived experience.
Text by: Impeccable Imagination
© Impeccable Imagination
Simon Berger
Monuments
In collaboration with
Underdogs Gallery
Solo show
Underdogs Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
15 November — 28 December 2024
Underdogs presents Monuments, Simon Berger’s first exhibition in Portugal, on view from 15 November to 28 December. Through a new body of work, the renowned Swiss artist — who once dreamed of becoming an architect — pays tribute to the work and vision of some of the most prominent figures in modern and contemporary architecture, such as Jean Nouvel, Peter Zumthor, Mies van der Rohe, and Zaha Hadid, among others.
-
Demonstrating his passion for this discipline, Berger uses these new works to highlight the importance of the contributions made by these pivotal figures, who revolutionised the field of architecture and who have also been a major source of inspiration for him. To mark the opening on 15 November, Simon Berger will do a live performance in the gallery space, while on 13 November, the artist will launch a signed, limited edition exploring a new technique.
Following the launch of a limited edition earlier this year dedicated to the iconic architect and urban planner Le Corbusier, this exhibition takes Simon Berger’s collaboration with Underdogs to new depths. Featuring a total of 17 works, Monuments weaves a surprising narrative about architecture, merging light, aesthetics, and functionality. Three pieces are installations composed of glass bricks, evoking the grandeur of classical structures. Through forms that rise in blocks of glass sculpted with high-pressure sandblasting, Berger offers a perspective on these celebrated architects: their legacy goes beyond the built they have left us. Monuments reflects Simon Berger’s early ambition to become an architect, which led him to train as a carpenter, a path that has shaped his entire artistic practice. Berger developed a singular technique of working glass, in which “anti-creation” – the destructive process of his tools – originates photorealistic figures. Light and fracture interact dynamically in a process the artist calls “morphogenesis”, now revealed in a new and unexpected way.
Text by: Underdogs Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
© Mike Doorline
Simon Berger
The Garden of Vitreous (De)Lights
In collaboration with
Alte Brennerei
Solo show
Unterramsern, Switzerland
1 June — 30 June 2024
The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch (1490-1500) is one of the most fascinating and enigmatic works of art in history. The detailed triptych depicts the transition from the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Earthly Delights and finally to Hell. Simon Berger has reinterpreted this masterpiece in his exhibition The Garden of Vitreous (De)Lights.
-
The Swiss artist created a 'garden of light' by transforming plant motifs from Bosch's work into glass. These glazed structures make the painting accessible and give it a three-dimensional dimension through precise hammer blows. Playing with light, colour and transparency, the garden came to life, inviting the viewer to experience the work in an almost multi-dimensional way. Berger isolated floral motifs from Bosch's flora and fauna and transferred them to panes of glass that acted as 'windows'. Breathing life into them with targeted hammer blows, Berger created the work as a meta-commentary on Bosch's iconography and the beauty of light. From Bosch's two-dimensional canvas to a three-dimensional intervention, 'Eden' becomes an invitation to enter the work and discover the hidden details behind the glass structures.
© Joerg Haefeli
Simon Berger
Reverberation
In collaboration with
Agence DS
Solo show
Atelier Richelieu, Paris, France
7 November —11 November 2024
Agence DS, Icone Gallery and NOA contemproary are delighted to announce that Simon Berger’s next solo exhibition will be held at the Atelier Richelieu from November 7 to 10. In this historic 700 m2 Parisian venue, which has hosted such emblematic events as Paris Photo and Drawing Now, Simon Berger will pay a powerful tribute to Richard Serra with monumental cylindrical sculptures. At the same time, he will devote part of his work to the Olympic Games, with striking portraits of the Olympian gods. Visitors will also be able to rediscover the female faces for which he is renowned, sublimated by the thousand fractures of his hammer.
Simon Berger
Lasting Moment
In collaboration with
Laurent Marthaler Gallery
Duo exhibition
Montreux, Switzerland
27 July — 15 September 2024
Lasting Moment was an exhibition that brought together the works of Simon Berger and Pierre-Alain Münger, unified by a striking black-and-white theme. The show explored the elemental power of light, whether through Berger's shattered glass that captures light or Münger's deformed metal plates that reflect it. Berger and Münger, long-time acquaintances, share a fascination with power, force, and the impact of their mediums. In their works, they intentionally use force, balancing control and pressure to shape their materials—glass for Berger and metal for Münger. Their shared approach resulted in a collection that speaks to the power of impact, highlighting the contrast between destruction and the delicate nature of life. For Berger, glass perfectly represents the themes of strength and fragility. He used shards to depict the chaos following a violent event, such as a car crash, illustrating the vulnerability of life disrupted by trauma. The collaboration between Berger and Münger emphasizes their joint exploration of force and fragility, offering a powerful narrative through their combined vision and techniques.
© Joerg Haefeli
Simon Berger
Glasstress 8 1/2
Curated by Umberto Croppi
In collaboration with
Berengo Studio
Group exhibition
Fondazione Berengo, Murano, Italy
19 April — November 2024
An extra edition
There is a place where the great artists of the world have passed through in recent decades to measure their creativity with a material steeped in history and seduction:glass. This place is Murano, the island in the Venetian lagoon that has made glassmaking its identity. It is on this remnant of land that their art has taken shape in a workshop that has dedicated its furnaces and the work of its masters to a single purpose, contemporary art. We are of course talking about Berengo Studio.
-
A vocation that has characterised 35 years of activity, without yielding to the market, and that has characterised the studio from the outset as a partner, culturally and technically equipped to understand and realise the creations conceived by artists.
Artists who enter into a symbiotic relationship with glass masters, creating an exchange of knowledge, ideas, and manual skills, indispensable ingredients to perform the magic of transforming an inert material into the form conceived by the author.
From experience to research, through a foundation that makes its work an accumulation of knowledge available for experimentation and a tool for dissemination, the Fondazione Berengo is in fact also the organiser of events and exhibitions in important museum institutions around the world, together with their own space that houses, on site in Murano, the most significant elements of a constantly evolving production.
Moreover, for the past 16 years, this path has been accompanied by a biennial exhibition in Venice, which constitutes a moment of dynamic synthesis of the achievements of the community of artists who gather around the figure of Adriano Berengo.
To celebrate the thirty-fifth year of activity, an “extra” edition has been set up: eight and a half in fact, because it is a large exhibition that is being held in Murano, allowing visitors to understand where the works are born, to enter into direct contact with the ancient but always new experience of the transfiguration of glass into pure art. Yet in addition, a dedicated space in Venice within one of the Arsenale's 'tese', to offer visitors to the Biennale a mirror of the Murano exhibition.
Simon Berger
Art Fiaci
In collaboration with
Art Fiaci and Museo di Arte Moderno
Group exhibition
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
2 May — 18 June 2024
© Blue Frame Production
Simon Berger
Facing Grace
Curated by Sandrine Welte and Pascale Lettieri
In collaboration with
Cris Contini Contemporary
Solo exhibition
Museo Civici di Treviso Casa Robegan, Treviso, Italy
15 December 2023 — 11 February 2024
Taking inspiration from Antonio Canova‘s revolutionary artistic work for the exhibition at the Musei Civici di Treviso, Simon Berger endeavours a new take on the complex oeuvre by the Italian sculptor whose importance and value for art continues to resonate today. In consideration of the intricate link between the city of Treviso and Canova’s birthplace in Possagno, Facing Grace engages with Canova‘s unique sculptural idiom by transposing his own aesthetic research into the human form to the repertoire of mythological narrative, studied in great detail by the Neoclassical artist.
-
The point of departure for the body of works presented thereby becomes Canova’s The Three Graces, an outstanding example of sculptural virtuosity in terms of composition and movement. United in their elegant posture and delicate beauty, the three goddesses are lost in an affectionate embrace as they face each other. Their peaceful balance speaks to their allegorical nature of mirth, youthful beauty and elegance as they altogether appear to exude an air of joyous lightness of being. From their physical appearance as a sculptural group of three, they are translated to a new corporeal shape in lines of cracks and creases through Simon Berger‘s ‘morphogenesis‘-technique.
Engaging with canons of beauty, the Swiss artist creates various installations that revolve around notions of the sublime, allowing for its many faces to appear. Glass, his material of choice, thereby acts as a medium to play with modes of perception, allowing for a both literal and metaphorical deconstruction and synthesis of the underlying mythological accounts. Layers of meaning are thus orchestrated into a comment on ‘facing grace‘ as his two-dimensional sculptural portraits invite a look beyond the surface in a virtual encounter with his vitreous drawings - in search of the beautiful.
Text by Sandrine Welte
© Jessica Zufferli
Simon Berger
Tosca
In collaboration with
Agence DS and Mairie de Paris
Public Art Project
Opéra Comique, Paris, France
28 September 2023 — 28 October 2023
The sculpture entitled "Tosca," which graced the Place Boieldieu in Paris, directly opposite the Opéra Comique, inaugurates a novel series by the accomplished artist Simon Berger. This series seeks to manifest the artist's profound appreciation for fellow creators by drawing inspiration from their oeuvre and subsequently crafting distinct artworks, thus paying homage to their unparalleled artistic contributions. As the title implies, "Tosca" materializes as a captivating portrait of Floria Tosca, the fictitious female protagonist in Giacomo Puccini's operatic masterpiece "Tosca."
-
Beyond its singular homage to the fictional persona, this work emanated a broader tribute to the remarkable women who grace the world of opera, both on and offstage. The strategic placement of "Tosca" and its thematic content also exhibited a deliberate connection to two eminent statues located within the halls of the theater, namely "Carmen" by Guiraud-Rivière and "Manon" by Antonin Mercié. The synergy between these artistic elements is apparent, creating a nuanced tapestry that underscores the enduring legacy of female characters within the operatic tradition. The sculpture beckoned the viewers to visually discover the piece, compelling them to navigate its contours and seek the precise vantage point from which the portrait coalesces into cohesive form. The installation of this remarkable artwork in the public sphere was the result of a collaboration between Simon Berger and the Mairie de Paris, embodying a shared commitment to democratizing artistic experiences in the vibrant metropolis. Berger's distinctive technique, characterized by the shattering of glass, served as a potent metaphor, visualizing both the vulnerability and resilience inherent to the persona of Tosca. The placement of the image within an offset cube frame further accentuated the multifaceted nature of the character, inviting contemplation of her intricate psyche and her enduring impact on the operatic canon.
© Salome Bellin
Simon Berger
The Doors of Perception
Curated by Sandrine Welte and Pascale Lettieri
In collaboration with
Cris Contini Contemporary
Solo Exhibition
Sansepolcro, Italy
2 July 2023 — 17 November 2023
Cris Contini Contemporary and Lo Studiolo d'Arte, present THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION, the solo show of Swiss sculptor Simon Berger curated by Sandrine Welte and Prof. Pasquale Lettieri on display at the Civic Museum of Sansepolcro.
In this exhibition sponsored by the Municipality of Sansepolcro and the Department of Culture, Simon Berger embraces the artistic heritage of the city as a starting point for a commentary that develops from a 1925 essay by Aldous Huxley, in which the author describes Piero della Francesca's Resurrection as ‘the greatest painting in the world’, thus saving it from the bombings of World War II. It was later, in his autobiographical account that the English writer reexamined the Renaissance artist’s work with respect to drapery, thereby opening the semantics of contemplation to new modes of seeing. With The Doors of Perception, the Swiss artist undertakes to investigate these very mechanisms of the beholding mind, that solitary universe in which the infinite vagueness of imagination and conception come together.
Through an immersive, box-like installation of glass canvases, the labyrinthine structures of the human intellect are replicated, playing with the illusion of sight and the seduction of the senses.
©Laura Scatena
Simon Berger
Porsche Art Car
Basel, Switzerland
23 May 2023
In collaboration with
Porsche Basel
Artist Simon Berger, known for his unmistakable artistic style, his incredible mastery of glass and his iconic portraits, was invited by the Porsche Centre to transform a Porsche 996 into a work of art. The result is surprising at first glance, but for car lovers, the reference to the motif is immediately recognisable. At the unveiling of the Porsche Art Car on 23 May in Basel, a glass fried egg is revealed. It appears to be dripping from the bonnet of the black Porsche and to have been fried on the floor in front of it.
-
Simon Berger decided to visualise the Porsche 966's nickname "Fried Egg". The model was given this name because of the modified shape of the front headlights. The iconic round headlights of the Porsche 911 were replaced with lights that resembled the shape of a fried egg. This change was controversial but memorable and may have inspired later changes to the headlight shape on other models.
In creating the Art Car, Simon Berger was inspired by Porsche's innovative spirit to try something new himself. He appreciates the unmistakable style with which the Porsche brand has been designing its models for decades, without shying away from experimentation and progress. "When I saw that they had delivered the Porsche 996 to my studio for the artwork, I thought to myself: if they deliver me the fried egg, I'll bring them one back, too," the artist, himself an enthusiastic Porsche fan, explained with a laugh. Inspired by the story of the "fried egg" headlights, he seized the opportunity to explore new possibilities in his own art. Instead of bringing forth his typical portraits out of glass, he uses coloured glass to combine the egg sculpture with the Porsche.
Once again, Simon Berger demonstrates his ability to respond to specific situations and constantly develop his work. He gives his Porsche Art Car a humorous touch and at the same time makes a strong statement: Only those who dare to cross boundaries, and perhaps polarise in the process, contribute to innovation and development and perhaps be polarising in the process contribute to innovation and development.
© NOA contemporary
Simon Berger
Solo Exhibition
Museo del Vetro, Murano, Italy
28 January — 7 May 2023
In collaboration with
Berengo Studio
The exhibition Simon Berger: Shattering Beauty, organised in collaboration with Berengo Studio at the Museo del Vetro, contains a series of new portraits by the artist in glass, presenting his pioneering technique to the Venetian lagoon for the very first time. In his hyper realistic portraits Berger recreates the lines of the human face by breaking the material. In a mesmerising process he refers to as “morphogenesis,” he re-situates the medium as an animated “canvas,” using sculptural tools such as a hammer to physically work at its surface to “etch” and “draw” haunting human faces. Reinforced safety glass, which holds at its core a crucial layer of plastic, ensures that the material, though broken, stays in place.
This highly controlled sculptural technique originates from the artist’s classical training in carpentry, and is a moving example of how many artists are now translating techniques from other mediums into the world of glass. Berger’s unique technique of deliberate “shattering,” contradicts years of teaching, whereby broken glass has been seen as wasted or ruined. On the contrary, he instead turns the material’s so-called weakness into its most vital asset. Its ability to break becomes reframed as its ability to change, to be altered, and to be recast as something new. To watch the artist create these works is to witness a vivid “performance,” not dissimilar to that of the glass maestros in the furnace. In a way, Berger’s craft provides an enticing extension of tradition, continuing the animated life of glass, into what had previously been viewed as its death.
©Jörg Häfeli
Simon Berger
In collaboration with
Artstübli Art & Culture
Solo exhibition
Basel, Switzerland
8 December 2022 — 1 April 2023
Glass artist Simon Berger stages the space completely freely according to his ideas and creates new spatial installations for the first time from his further developed experiments, in which the visitors integrate themselves and interact with the material glass. For example, walk-on glass panels are installed, and the weight of the panels activates the overall work planned by the artist by breaking the glass floor. In addition, images will be created on the walls through shards of mirror and the incidence of light, in keeping with his preoccupation with reflection and transparency.
The installation will be accompanied by a supporting room acoustics/lighting concept and will be in a constant state of flux throughout the exhibition period. As the artist continues to influence the overall installation, new works, sculptures and spatial experiences are constantly being created.
During the exhibition period, individual public and exclusive events on the theme of “glass” will take place within the installation in combination with culinary delights/performances. These accompanying programmes will be communicated separately.
© NOA contemporary
Simon Berger
Portrait of Atatürk
In collaboration with
Laurent Marthaler Contemporary
Commissioned work by Şişecam
Turkey
November 2022
The Atatürk portrait was specially commissioned by the global glass and chemicals company Şişecam, who hosted me in Istanbul. Founded in 1935 in line with Atatürk's vision to establish a national glass industry and meet Turkey's demand for glassware, Şişecam has formed a meaningful connection with this glass artwork. The portrait Simon Berger created using strikes on the glass symbolises the strong and lasting legacy of Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey.
Simon Berger
Unbreakable Identities
In collaboration with
Gallotti & Radice
Solo exhibition at Milano Design Week
Milano, Italy
12 June — 16 June 2022
Art pays tribute to the female world with suggestive portraits engraved in glass by Swiss artist Simon Berger. In his hands, a hammer is an amplifier of identity perspectives, preserving faces in glass making them eternal is the distinctive sign of the artist. The celebration of an everlasting beauty framed in the purity of crystal. Feminine identities, indestructible and unbreakable, are the result of a figurative perception that is revealed through the extraordinary materiality of glass.
The exhibition hosts eight magnificent pieces by this talented artist and glass master, from the splendid face positioned in the window to the two suggestive internal profiles, to an intense detail of an eye accompanied by two portraits. The undisputed protagonist, however, is the table: Unbreakable Identities, visible through a 3D effect.
© Gallotti & Radice
Simon Berger
In collaboration with
Vitromusée Romont
Solo Exhibition
Romont, Switzerland
10 June 2022 — 9 October 2022
The Bernese artist Simon Berger (*1976) has spent years optimising his artistic technique. He has always been fascinated by human faces. In 2016, while still in the experimental phase, he created his first work in glass. His art turns the perception of reality on its head and the aesthetic he has chosen gives new meaning to the term “broken window”.
Today, Simon Berger is in demand for projects all over the world. In 2021, his career took off with the portrait of US Vice President Kamala Harris, which was be exhibited on the National Mall in Washington.
For his exhibition at the Vitromusée Romont, his first institutional exhibition, Simon Berger is creating completely new works to give visitors an insight into his artistic oeuvre. The exhibition includes a video interview with the artist.
© Mike Sommer
Simon Berger
Sculpture Garden Biennale Geneva
Group Exhibition
Geneva, Switzerland
10 June 2022 — 30 September 2022
Contemporary glass artist Simon Berger speaks a singular visual language as he explores the depths of his material, glass, which he cracks and splits with a hammer. The pane of glass becomes the support for an expansion achieved by impacts that play with transparency. The closer and shorter the blows, the stronger the contrasts and nuances. In his hands, the hammer is not a tool of destruction, but rather an amplifier of effects. Berger began his artistic explorations with aerosol cans before turning to other media. Trained as a carpenter, his natural attraction to wood inspired his first urban art creations. A keen mechanic, he also spent a lot of time working on crashed vehicles. It was while thinking about what to do with a car windscreen that his art was born. "Human faces have always fascinated me," explains Simon. "On safety glass, these patterns seem to come to life and attract visitors as if by magic. It's a discovery, where abstract mist meets figurative perception.
Simon Berger
In collaboration with
Street Art Festival Grenoble
Group Exhibition
Grenoble, France
10 June 2022 — 24 June 2022
“L’espoir”
10 June — 24 June 2022
Mural
The mural “L’espoire” was Simon Berger's first permanent installation in an official building. Stretching across a glass façade, the work depicts a young boy of colour looking up at the sky with a hopeful look in his eyes. In his site-specific projects, Simon Berger aims to create works that convey a message which is integral to the place where they are located. For this piece, the artist researched about social injustice and the impact of various socio-economic factors such as class, location, and ethnicity on access to education. The mural is intended as a reminder of the power of education, demanding that its availability be guaranteed to all children, regardless of their background.
©Street Art Fest Grenoble
Simon Berger
In collaboration with
Mazel Galerie
Solo Exhibition
Brussels, Belgium
11 February 2022 — 26 March 2022
© Courtesy of the Gallery
Simon Berger
Portrait of Kamala Harris
In collaboration with
National Women’s History Museum, Chief Network and Artstübli Art & Culture
Artwork
Washington, USA
16 May — 21 June 2021
The glass portrait of the former Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, has been created not only as a homage to her vision and commitment but also to honour various female political figures throughout history who have broken the proverbial ‘glass ceilings'. Through their perseverance, societal barriers were overcome, allowing more women to advance into leadership positions. In partnership with the National Women's History Museum and Chief, a women’s leadership network, the portrait was installed in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC in February 2021.
-
Kamala Harris is the first black woman of Asian-American descent to serve as Vice President. The artwork accordingly stands as a tribute to various female pioneers in history, such as the first female Congresswoman Shirley Chrisholm, the first female Senator Carol Moseley Braun, Secretaries of State Madeline Albright and Condoleezza Rice as well as Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Conner and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Simon Berger's technique of shattering glass to create a portrait is thus worthy of the subject. It took several women to break the 'glass ceiling‘ and pave the way for future female figures in positions of power. The portrait is based on a photograph of Kamala Harris taken by Celeste Sloman, author of the 2019 book ‘Women of the 116th Congress: Portraits of Power’. This project inspired Simon Berger to further explore various themes in his work that relate in some way to the materiality of glass. It has shown that the shattering and breaking of glass ceilings is sometimes necessary to develop and empower in order, to liberate something new out of destruction - very much as Simon Berger does in his own practice.
© Martien Mulder
Simon Berger
#WeAreUnbreakable
In collaboration with
TBWA/RAAD, MTV Lebanon, and Laurent Marthaler Contemporary
Project
Beirut, Lebanon
2021
The devastating detonation that occurred on the 4th of August 2020 in Beirut, Lebanon, was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. 218 people lost their lives and many more were left with their homes and lives in ruins. The #WeAreUnbreakable campaign was launched as a cry for truth and justice. Despite official promises to uncover the truth and find the errors that allowed for such a catastrophe to happen, the families of the deceased had to wait for a long time for action be taken.
-
The campaign represents the unbreakable will of the Lebanese people to get to the truth of what led to the tragedy and to ensure that justice is served. Simon Berger was invited to create an artwork in honour of those who lost their lives and to make a statement for those left behind. The artist visited the families of the victims, the destroyed port, and other affected sites, in preparation for creating his glass installation. The glass portraits, who depicted some of the victims of the explosion, served as a powerful gesture, taking a stand against the situation to make the people’s voices heard. The portraits were shown on one of Lebanon's largest television stations in a commemorative episode for those who lost their lives and everything they owned. Berger's artistic interpretation of the project was created in collaboration with the gallery Laurent Marthaler Contemporary.
© Beit Beirut