Marta Riniker-Radich: Every Home a Fortress Every Hearth a Blossom

Swiss Institute has temporarily relocated to a 5,000 sq ft project space at 102 Franklin Street in Tribeca, where we are presenting programming under the name Swiss In situ.

Swiss Institute is pleased to present Every home a fortress every hearth a blossom, an exhibition of new works by artist Marta Riniker-Radich (b. 1982, lives and works in Geneva, Switzerland). For her first US solo exhibition, Riniker-Radich focuses on rural anti-government organizations that have flourished in the America in recent years. Comprised of drawings, sculptures, and architectural interventions, the exhibition highlights the contradictory desires and fears underpinning such movements.

Riniker-Radich, who is best known for her luminescent pencil drawings, has here created a new series depicting allegorical environments of care and control. The soft-hued images feature marbled eggs and intricately decorated cupcakes, handcrafted goods associated with rituals of domesticity. These delicate objects are confined within severe architectures designed to isolate and protect.

To create a sense of privacy, the artist has placed filters on the windows of the gallery and fabricated customized resin earplugs in visceral shades of pink and deep red. The thoughts mold the brain, as certainly as the brain molds the thoughts (2015) are a set of handmade whips, or carpet beaters, suggesting certain obsessive and aggressive aspects of cleanliness.

Hinting at a survivalist spirit, rudimentary water filtration systems drip water into buckets throughout the gallery. Meanwhile, a screen displays testimonials, culled from a militia website and message board, of individuals reacting to the supply packages they received in the mail in exchange for their dues.

Marta Riniker-Radich (b. 1982; Bern, Switzerland) lives and works in Geneva, Switzerland. She received a BFA from Haute Ecole d’Art et de Design, Geneva.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.