Nina Rieben (*1992, lives and works in Bern)
Evtl., 2020
Text on smartphone, 15 x 7 cm
Nina Rieben’s work Evtl. consists of a short text fragment written on an iPhone. The simplicity of the means used triggers an immediate effect on the viewers and encourages them to continue thinking for themselves. The artist uses language to create images that occupy and expand the space.
I’m sorry, you missed the show (on/off), 2018
Fine Art print on Hahnemühle, non-reflecting grey glass, framed, 70 x 100 x 3.5 cm
yes, but how to react to voids that can’t be read as poetry?, 2019
Sheet aluminium, synthetic resin varnish, 20 x 50 cm
Nina Rieben works with words, with emptiness and the instability that can arise from it. I’m sorry you missed the show (on/off) opens up a view of the blue sky, through which a vapour trail of a flight manoeuvre runs in the form of a loop. The artist contrasts the ephemeral appearance on the monochrome surface with the humour in the title of the work, which in turn allows the situation to be overturned by the parenthetical remark. In yes, but how to react to voids that can’t be read as poetry? the artist addresses the theme of nothingness and questions the possibilities of language in its ability to draw a picture of the world. With subtle irony, she confronts voids and sometimes unbalances our perception.
Sehnsucht im Bereich des Möglichen, 2019
UV print on textile, 286 x 711 x 4 cm
Schlüsselwerk, nachts, 2018
Fine Art print on Hahnemühle, anti-reflective glass, framed, 29.7 x 21 x 1.5 cm
In her works, Nina Rieben deals with the creative void and hints with subtle irony at the ambivalence that exists between nothingness and the artistic production of work. This contrast determines the working conditions she faces as an artist. In the series Einschlafwerke, Rieben is interested in the threshold to sleep and uses it for the creative process; at times, the work appears in its spiritual and absolute form in a moment of reverie. The artist translates this phenomenon into different flat monochrome black tones that allow inconspicuous figurative elements to emerge from the void and plays with the contrasts of light and dark.
Nina Rieben is participating in the initiative «artist takeover» of our Instagram-Account:
#artisttakeover on 28.2.2021
