Reto Pulfer is interested in the sensibility of material, often finding and recycling things from domestic life, such as bed sheets, clothes, dried pasta, spices etc., but also organic objects from the outside world, such as moss, stones and even light. Stitched, knotted, wrapped together or carefully arranged, these materials trigger a tactile experience. Pulfer’s practice includes performance, sound, sculpture, clay and fabric works. The size of his works can vary dramatically, from small works on paper and ceramics, to metres of fabric suspended from walls and ceilings inside a room to form temporary tent-like environments. These bigger installations strive to create an atmospheric space, creating a phenomenological experience that wraps itself through day, night and mood.

 

The notion of suspension encompasses Pulfer’s body of work as a whole, both formally and conceptually, physically and metaphorically — take for example Inselgeist ls (2012), part performance, part installation, a ghost that changes its appearance with the wind and light. For Pulfer suspension is a physical state of precarious equilibrium, both uncertain and experiential. Colour is another pivotal feature in Pulfer’s practice. There is a reoccurrence of the blue of sea and sky, greenish nuances, and yellow, orange and red, hinting at the coexistence and interaction of meditative and earthy elements, as well as the happenstance that occurs through the choices necessitated by commercial manufacturing.


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