On the occasion of Denise Bertschi’s Manor exhibition at the Aargauer Kunsthaus, the present monograph brings together her most important work complexes. In three chapters, the pictorial section leads associatively through the stages of Bertschi’s research-based pictorial practice: the initial collecting and collating (Collecting), the documentary search for traces on site (Documenting) and the translations into various visual media (Presenting).
In addition to the work complex “HELVÉCIA, Brazil”, in which Denise Bertschi deals with the economic relations of Swiss traders in Brazil in the 19th century and which is updated for the exhibition on the Aargau actors, the volume also presents the work groups “State Fiction”, “Neutrality as an Agent” and “Hounting Home”.
Three text contributions illuminate the works. While Bernhard C. Schär and André Nicacio Lima discuss the historical and cultural foundations that Bertschi takes up with her works on the relationship between Brazil and Switzerland, Anselm Franke uses photography to focus on the motif of the border, a central theme in Bertschi’s work. Finally, Yasmin Afschar sketches in her essay the most important aspects and themes in Bertschi’s practice.