1 February – 22 March 2025
Rämistrasse 5
8001 Zurich · Switzerland
1 February – 22 March 2025
Tuesday–Friday: 11 am–6 pm
Saturday: 11 am–5 pm
In this group exhibition, the concept of Nightglow threads through the works of Julian Charrière, Kimsooja, and Callum Innes like a faint glow in the dark. Here, Nightglow refers to a phenomenon that is subtle, mysterious, and transcendent. It symbolizes a fragile yet present force that offers guidance and hope in moments of stillness—not unlike those fluorescent stars our parents would stick to the ceilings of our childhood bedrooms to help us fall asleep. At the same time, Nightglow remains fleeting, unattainable—a phenomenon that eludes our grasp. Its artificial light produces a false sense of security as our nightmares creep closer.
In Julian Charrière’s Coalface, delicate lamps float in front of polished, black surfaces. Their materiality blurs the boundary between past and future: anthracite coal, a symbol of the Industrial Revolution, meets stainless steel, which speaks of contemporary use. Charrière reflects on our alienated relationship with the organic materials that shape our era. Yet his gleaming, almost ghostly sculptures also harbor a darker truth: they speak of coal as a relic and as a precursor to an uncertain future.
At first glance, Charrière’s Love-In Krakatoa recalls a lava lamp from the 1980s. The viscous mass glows in the cool room. Yet inside the oversized test tube is a substance that should hardly evoke nostalgia—raw palm oil. A material that entices us with the sweet allure of consumption while simultaneously obscuring the ecological and social catastrophes of our time.
Like a dream we awaken from, Nightglow remains something that leaves us questioning: Did we truly experience it? Was it tangible, or merely an illusion?
In Kimsooja’s works, too, Nightglow becomes a metaphor for in-between spaces—for states that are neither fully real nor entirely unattainable. Her meditative prints recall Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris, where the fragility of light merges with the human search for orientation. The colors in The Sun – Unfolded break through the darkness like a quiet, powerful signal: they embody the energy and beauty that can exist even in the darkest moments. Her soft color gradients invite us to reconsider our relationship with fundamental elements.
Nightglow becomes a reflection of our inner conflicts: the search for clarity in a world full of uncertainty. This juxtaposition is also reflected in the works of Callum Innes. The works from the Untitled series mirror a similar tension—one that hovers between control and chance, precision and instinct. Innes manages to make the uncontrollable a central element of his work. While his pastel pieces initially present a clear structure and ordered color fields, a closer look reveals subtle transitions, omissions, and traces that testify to the materiality of the medium.
Thus, Nightglow becomes a symbol of a persistent yet quiet presence that, in its fragility, wants us to look, feel, and act more consciously. Despite their differences, the works of Charrière, Kimsooja, and Innes seem to address the same questions: How do we navigate through this life? What choices do we make? What traces do we leave behind?
But be warned, Nightglow is also seductive. It invites us to reflect on its condition without providing answers. It remains a snapshot that leaves us with the task of translating a dream into our reality—or, perhaps, with the realization that the superimposition of dream and reality has already taken place.
Text by Julia Hegi
Giclée (Inkjet) Print on Epson Paper
116.5 × 594 cm overall
KS/F 8
Anthracite coal, stainless steel oil lamp
113 × 103 × 14 cm
JC/S 112
© the artist; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany
Borosilicate glass, stainless-steel, lamp, palm oil, distilled water
248 × 51.5 × 51.5 cm
JC/S 41
© the artist; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany
InquirePiezography on Hahnemühle
Photo Rag
147 × 110 cm
2/3 (+ 2AP)
JC/F 236
© the artist; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany
InquireArchival pigment print on Hahnemühle FineArt Pearl
81.8 × 101.8 × 4.2 cm (framed)
5/5 (+ 1AP)
JC/F 136
© the artist; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany
InquirePastel on Two Rivers Paper
52 × 42 cm, 60 × 50 × 3.5 cm (framed)
CI/D 145
Pastel on Two Rivers Paper
52 × 42 cm, 60 × 50 × 3.5 cm (framed)
CI/D 146
Pastel on Two Rivers Paper
52 × 42 cm, 60 × 50 × 3.5 cm (framed)
CI/D 149
Pastel on Two Rivers Paper
52 × 42 cm, 60 × 50 × 3.5 cm (framed)
CI/D 150
Pastel on Two Rivers Paper
52 × 42 cm, 60 × 50 × 3.5 cm (framed)
CI/D 152
Pastel on Two Rivers Paper
52 × 42 cm, 60 × 50 × 3.5 cm (framed)
CI/D 151
Pastel on Two Rivers Paper
52 × 42 cm, 60 × 50 × 3.5 cm (framed)
CI/D 159
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