alienesque animatronic sculptures land at ivana bašić's schinkel pavillon exhibition in berlin

Metempsychosis: The Passion of Pneumatics at Schinkel Pavillon

Until September 1st, 2024, the iconic octagonal halls of the Schinkel Pavillon in Berlin are transformed by a surreal exhibition titled Metempsychosis: The Passion of Pneumatics by artist Ivana Bašić. Exploring the material and metaphysical boundaries of humanity, the show presents 20 new works, including alien-like sculptures, paintings, videos, and a 23-foot-wide animatronic altarpiece. The exhibition takes visitors on an otherworldly journey, contemplating the dissolution of the body and the material world, not as a loss, but as a moment of radical potential.

all images courtesy of Ivana Bašić

Ivana Bašić’s sculptures explore fragility and transformation

Ivana Bašić’s work is deeply influenced by her childhood experiences of war, violence, and brutality during the collapse of Yugoslavia. The New York-based artist’s creations delve into pressing existential concerns: the fragility of the human condition, the breakdown of self and others, the reimagining of life and death, and the quest for immortality. Bašić’s hybrid bodies explore metamorphosis as an alternative to physical escape, both individually and collectively. Can transformation offer a way out when there is nowhere left to retreat or hide?

Approximately human in scale, each of Bašić’s sculptures at the Schinkel Pavillon (find more here) combines various materials—wax, glass, bronze, stainless steel, and alabaster—into a unique symbolic language consistent throughout her work. These figures, reminiscent of womb fluids and insectile bodies, evoke both violence and tenderness, suggesting primordial forces from the underground and the unseen.

the show presents 20 new works, including alien-like sculptures, paintings, and videos

half-insect, half-machine creatures meet Italian Renaissance

Key pieces in the exhibition include a sculpture resembling a half-insect, half-machine creature reminiscent of a praying mantis—a symbol of wisdom and guidance in ancient Greek and Egyptian cultures. Another sculpture appears to birth itself, pushing its own glass head through its abdomen. At the center, two biomechanical figures emerge from an altar-like structure, their soft human forms protected by shiny armor plates as they evolve and shed their human exteriors.

Titled Passion of Pneumatics, the exhibition’s focal point draws inspiration from Italian Renaissance depictions of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Instead of rays of sunlight, pneumatic hammers rhythmically pound a stone to dust at the sculpture’s core, powered by compressed air synchronized with the artist’s breath. This evokes the Gnostic concept of Pneuma—Greek for ‘breath’ and ‘spirit’—where the Pneumatics, in Gnostic teachings, are beings elevated by the spirit, transcending the material world.

the exhibition’s focal point draws inspiration from Italian Renaissance depictions of the Immaculate Heart of Mary