| ULRICH EGGER | Biography | |
| la solitudine dell’architettura | ||
| curated by Pietro Gaglianò | ||
| 8 May – 31 July 2026 |
Il Ponte continues its exhibition season with a monographic exhibition dedicated to Ulrich Egger, presenting his photosculptures from the early 2000s to the present day.
The exhibition Ulrich Egger. La solitudine dell’architettura (The solitude of architecture) unfolds across the two floors of the gallery through a selection of medium and large-scale works in which industrial and urban landscapes, buildings, interiors, and abandoned facades are the protagonists. Subject of the interpretation and representation of the transience of the urban world. His works are a mash up of images and industrial materials, technically making use of steel, iron, wood, glass together with photography. The series Impatto urbano (photoprint on Dibond), Belvedere (photoprint on canvas, nylon and iron), Convivenza (photoprint on Dibond, wallpaper, neon and iron), Die dritte Haut (photoprint on PVC, iron and oil paint), Hotel Principe (photoprint on forex, plaster and iron), Sotterraneo (photoprint on MDF, graphite and iron), are scenarios – to name a few – of the works presented in the exhibition, which involve the spectator in the presence of these evident traces of buildings, of houses full of memories represented in them, to “relive” stories that despite everything continue to survive.
«In Egger’s works, architectures, objects and rare natural elements are on the same plane. At first sight they are recognizable to the viewer, but nothing is what it seems: the observer has to deconstruct and recompose the various parts: printed image and three-dimensional volumes, different scenarios, texture and consistency of the materials. Thus the artist disrupts the viewer (who is the only bodily presence in an imaginary where the human figure is methodically, meticulously removed), showing them unexpected directions and suggesting that their work go beyond contemplation. […] Ulrich Egger’s research unfolds according to a contemporary sensitivity. Its spectators are emancipated, neither subjugated by propaganda nor infantilized by entertainment or flattering participation (as Jacques Rancière reminds us). His works are layered, grafted onto each other, overlapping. They experiment with formats, materials and the possibilities of mediums, but above all, they challenge linear narratives. In their presence, we spectators are called upon to develop reading strategies that traverse the traditional categories of art. And this work, this exercise involves the human condition. It entails the need to turn to
the world and reinterpret it, to react to the dominant narratives and to imagine that resistance is possible». (Pietro Gaglianò, Ruins and resistance, 2026).
Ulrich Egger, represented by Il Ponte gallery, was the protagonist, selected as part of The Phair 2025, to participate with an unpublished photographic project in the first edition of the artistic residence “Scisti e Vinisti”, promoted by CON Red Lab and Red Lab Gallery and hosted at The ApARTment in Salento. On May 2, 2026, at Red Lab Gallery – in partnership with Il Ponte – the public restitution of the aforementioned artistic residency (to be held in September 2025) is presented, curated by Francesca Canfora. The exhibition Scisti e Vinisti is accompanied by the talk Inevitable beauty: Italy and art of contradictions.
