Die Neue Sammlung
Ina Bauer
17 Apr 2024
Die Neue Sammlung
Norwegian artist Sigurd Bronger describes his works not as jewellery but as wearable objects. His constructions are carrying devices for a highly unusual range of objects: sponges, hedgehog spines, a goose egg, cardboard boxes, his mother’s gallstones, to name but a few. These are transformations of the everyday into the absurd, the commonplace into the extraordinary. Die Neue Sammlung / Pinakothek der Moderne is mounting the first solo show outside of Norway (March to June 2024): “Sigurd Bronger. Wearables/Trag-Objekte”.
Catalogue and Typeface
The exhibition catalogue is no ordinary book – it is an archive filled with the more than 140 exhibits, a box, a reader, a visual, theoretical and individual consideration of his works accompanied by drawings depicted in three booklets integrated into the book … As a three-dimensional object, it becomes a transformer of language, giving rise to new titles when used: Wear Sigurd, Bronger Wearables, Sigurd Wear, Bronger able… a peculiar book object.
A number of characteristic features from Sigurd Bronger’s works were translated into a custom-made typeface. It is characterised by constructed glyphs with sharp, spiky details that provide the visual identity for the book and exhibition design – a transformation of the artistic language into the language of the typography exclusively for the artist: the “Sigurd” typeface.
Both in the book and in the exhibition, “Sigurd” always appears as a coexistent element. As soon as the works make an appearance, it steps back from the limelight, whereas when no works are depicted (as in the book’s essay section), it takes charge of the visual language. In this way, Sigurd Bronger remains visible throughout.
