11.03.–30.04.2000

The works of Manfred Pernice (b. 1963, lives in Berlin) possess a fragmentary character. In his work, he reflects upon ideas and deals with subjects that are not always complete and can not always be read in a linear way; in the end, however, they can be accessed by contemplation. He often develops his sculptural works via drawings and cardboard objects. On the surface of his works or in their vicinity are photos, illustrations, projections, texts, or drawings, often indicating their function and significance. Pernice's works appear mobile and temporary. His structures, containers, and objects (rafts) appear as utopian models.

For Portikus, Pernice developes a work he entitles "1a - Dosenfeld ´00." It is an area surrounded by a fence, on which there are 29 can-shaped objects, and four containers, one of which show a projection. The artist describes his concept as follows:

"The can-field is a further utilisation of the can and the box (container), after these have proven themselves under all circumstances as a vehicle. Employing these means in the can-field is the result of thinking about cans to the utmost consequence. The can-field does not tell a story to be followed, but represents a situation surrounding the viewer. The visitor enters a context of non-sense, an intolerable imposition of separate aspects. The context is acceptable only as an artistic design, but it does, potentially, parallel a type of everyday perception. This type is the heterogeneous situation - a temporary or permanent coexistence of separate aspects not interested in each other. What one usually only perceives are contexts that make sense - never or seldom contexts of non-sense. The can-field presents such a context of non-sense, which the viewer of course tries to alter into a context that makes sense. The viewer's occupation with each separate aspect makes sense; the aspects in their totality do not. In seeking intelligibility, these nonsensical situations usually go unnoticed, even though life is full of them."