MARI ULLAND AND BERENICE HERNÁNDEZ
Every Square is a Fiction of Order
 

3 April – 18 May 2025

 

The works of Berenice Hernández and Mari Ulland are rooted in architecture and the pursuit of new possibilities within their main materials. In this exhibition, Hernández and her ceramic pieces engage with Ulland’s textile work and use of the grid as a point of departure. 

Grids impose structure. They define and limit space. They are a promise of order. But like all systems, they remain inherently unstable. In the works of both artists, a recurring image emerges: a square within a frame, a gesture of containment and balance. A balance that proves to be false as the textile layers of Ulland bend and unfold as if they are resisting their own geometry. They are not fixed systems but shifting forms, folding and unfolding, seemingly defying their own forced logic. 

And while the ceramic structures of Hernández seem stable and permanent, as ceramic pieces often do, they are full of traces of the opposite—cracks, glaze drips, gestures caught in motion. Their surfaces shift between being paintings and sculptures; they show both flatness and depth, containment and disruption. 

As the exhibition title implies, our search for stability using grid systems, or any system, is futile. Cracks form, voids open, new forms slip through, and movements always unfold. 

Berenice Hernández (b. 1982, Mexico) works with sculpture, video, photography, and performance, exploring the power of spaces over society and individuals. She holds a BFA from Kunsthøgskolen in Oslo, and an MFA from Konstfack, Stockholm. Her work has been shown in Mexico, Sweden, Norway, the UK, the USA and Belgium, with recent exhibitions at Galleri Svarta Gran, Etnografiska Museet, Berg Gallery, and Norsk Billedhoggerforening. Hernández's work is in the collections of KODE Art Museum, Handelsbankens Konstförening, Statens Konstråd, Region Dalarna and Stockholm. She is currently working on a public commission for Park Central, Gothenburg. 

Mari Ulland (b. 1980 in Bjørkelangen) works material based with textile. The foundation of her work is technique, construction and precision. With textile grids she builds landscapes and sculptures. The folding and layering of the grids shape structures which make movement in both perspectives and colours. 

Ulland holds an MA from Kunsthøgskolen in Oslo, and have exhibited her works at i.a. Trondheim Senter for Samtidskunst, Skog Art Place Oslo, Intercultural Museum in Oslo, and K.U.K. in Trondheim.