BREAK · CONSTRUCT

Carte Blanche, Hangzhou, CN
November 2025 – February 2026
Solo Exhibition, Curated by Florian Paul Koenig
In celebration of the 75th anniversary of Sino-Swiss diplomatic relations. Supported by the Embassy of Switzerland in China

Nüwa, the goddess who mended the sky. Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, whose tragic love story is told across China. Chang'e and her journey to the moon.

For his first major solo exhibition in China, Simon Berger turned to Chinese mythology. He had worked with mythological figures before, among them the Greek and Roman Gods. In Hangzhou, he engaged for the first time with the myths of a non-Western culture.

Berger distilled the essence of each myth into fractured glass and carried it into the present. The cracks become a link between ancient legend and contemporary life, between memory and cultural identity.

The exhibition showed the full range of his practice, from intimate glass portraits to large-scale installations and new sculptural works inspired by the myths. In Hangzhou, a UNESCO Creative City with a long tradition of craftsmanship, his work entered into dialogue with China's heritage in glass and ceramics.

One of the exhibition's wall texts puts it in a single line: “When transparency meets strength, light takes on a shape.”

Credits

Carte Blanche, Embassy of Switzerland in China, NOA contemporary

Photography: © Carte Blanche