Julia Bornefeld

FUNDUS – Julia Bornefeld

A Chandelier of bronze-coloured cent coins , photography in a vintage suitcase, silver dust, ink on cotton canvas, rubber, metal, leather and much more – these are some of the materials we find in Julia Bornefeld’s works.

Fundus, the #12 edition of Carte Blanche, is a kind of retrospective but also a current insight into the work of the multi-talented and very active contemporary artist Julia Bornefeld. Julia Bornefeld is a multidisciplinary artist who works in various areas of the visual arts. She works with light, sound, sculpture and painting on a wide variety of materials and surfaces.

The exhibition title FUNDUS for the 12th Carte Blanche exhibitions comes from the term fundus, which has different meanings in different contexts, but all of which have a certain depth and complexity. Originally from Latin, fundus means something like ground or basis. In art, however, the term is often used to describe ideas, themes or motifs that serve as a basis for creative work. A fundus can be invaluable to artists as it allows them to draw on existing concepts and reinterpret them.

Julia Bornefeld is showing works from her artistic oeuvre, the oldest in this exhibition is from 1987 with bitumen, acrylic paint and canvas with partly burnt pieces of cotton. There will also be works on display that were specially designed for the premises of the Hotel Aurora in 2024 and 2025.

There will be life-size sculptures, drawings and objects on display that deal with the artist’s ongoing processes of creative production. In this sense, the Fundus is not only a storehouse of knowledge, but also a dynamic space in which creativity and innovation can unfold. Furthermore, the Fundus can also be understood as a metaphor for the collective memory of a society. The cultural, historical and social experiences stored in a fundus characterize individual and collective consciousness.

Julia Bornefeld’s works challenge the viewer to question the perception of the object and its symbolism. A certain alienation of the objects leads to a desire to touch and explore. The haptics of the artworks could not be more different. It is precisely this variety that is exciting and appealing. The sense of touch is challenged in the three-dimensional works, a kind of columns, Derma I, 2016 and also with Pneu , 2016.

Awakening a wide range of human senses beyond the sense of sight is one of the aims that Julia Bornefeld pursues with her artworks. The work Paradigma, created in 2015, and Melas, created in 2015, show the industrial and technical side of the artist’s oeuvre. Bornefeld’s interest in removing materials from their original purpose and presenting them in seemingly wondrous patterns is obvious. An elevation to three-dimensionality through the steel frame allows the work to be described as a wall sculpture and plays with the fusion of image and sculpture.

With Cage of Vanity, 2010, Julia Bornefeld wants to use the oversized golden wooden frame as a sign of appreciation for the digital pigment print it contains. A culturally influenced expectation on the part of the visitor that points to quality and historicity.

With the sculpture Argento, 2023 made of aluminium and aluminium mesh, a fragile-looking, partly transparent ‘cloud’ is created that enables a completely new use of aluminium mesh through integrated, colour-changing light sources. Sphere, 2025, the site-specific installation for the Hotel Aurora made of the same material, floats impressively from the ceiling of the gallery space and allows visitors to immerse themselves in their own world of light.

Morphic fields_ argento, 2022, are large-format canvases with ink and silver dust. They reveal cosmic formations and transport the visitor to another dimension. Works that look like stardust, some of which reveal a kind of explosion but also a melting form.

Lateral thinker and free spirit paired with the highest standards of quality and precision. Elaborate technical expertise and innovative artistic approaches only marginally describe the nature of the artist and the exhibited works. These are works that touch, that break with tradition and are aesthetically pleasing at the same time.

This space is dedicated to showcasing contemporary artistic perspectives, offering both local and international artists the opportunity to exhibit their work through a hybrid format: an online virtual gallery alongside a physical exhibition space located within Aurora.