Perhaps solidity is an illusion. Afterall, everything shifts. That which is lost is arguably as present as that which remains. If clay can be continuously transformed, reconfigured, re-fragmented and re-fired, when is a ceramic object finished? Can a pause in a long, slow process be a point of completion? What is the value of a ‘complete’ sculpture if its fate is to become ruins, fragments, and pieces of yet another ‘complete’ sculpture? In this Studio Session, we assess the significance of stillness amidst a world of constant motion; we collectively investigate ideas around value, sustainability, and identity in the context of objects and installations that are in a perpetual cycle of being remade.

Berenice Hernández works with sculptures, video, photography, and performance. In her work she focuses on the importance of spaces, their foundations, and the potential power they have over our society and the individual. Her aim is to create temporary and imaginary landscapes to escape reality, and to think about other possible futures. An important part of her practice is the idea that solidity is illusory. Everything shifts. Her sculptures are as much about the cracks, the broken lines, and the flakes that fall off, as they are about the structures themselves. For Hernández, what is lost is as present as what remains. Her work then becomes an architecture of what was, what might have been, and what is.

Berenice Hernández was born in Mexico City. She started her ceramic training in Mexico City, went on to study ceramics at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO), and holds an MFA from Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm. Her work has been shown in Mexico, Sweden and Norway. Recent exhibitions include Assembled Absence at Berg Gallery, Stockholm, Measures of the Void at Norskbilledhoggerforening, Oslo, Alla de otroligt många tillstånd at Kaolin, Stockholm, Taco for two: performance during Stockholm Craft Week, Observations on the means to carry on at Galleri Format, Oslo, and the 8th Biennale of Ceramics at the Franz Mayer Museum, Mexico City. Hernández has been awarded grants from The Swedish Arts Grants Committee, Anglo-Swedish Society, Estrid Ericsons Stiftelse and Hertha Bengtsson Stipendiefond. In 2022, she was awarded a grant from Den Nordiska Första S:t Johannislogens Jubelfond for her graduation project, and in 2020, she received the FKDS (Fondet for kunst- og designstudenter) Grant, awarded by KHiO. Hernández is represented in the collections of KODE Art Museums of Bergen, Norway, Handelsbankens konstförening and Statens Konstråd, Stockholm, Sweden.

This session took place in October 2023.