With the exhibition ‘With fondest regards’ at Kunsthaus Biel Centre d’art Bienne, Mathias C. Pfund (*1992) undertakes an artistic intervention on the donation of Mary Ann and Hal Glicksman to the Kunsthaus Biel in 2023. In particular, the artist examines two works made of fluorescent tubes by Dan Flavin: Untitled (For Mary Ann & Hal with Fondest Regards) 1 & 2 (1976). The case study draws on a variety of source material and takes shape through Mathias C. Pound’s diverse artistic gestures.

In 2023, the Kunsthaus Biel received a significant donation from Mary Ann and Hal Glicksman, an American couple who were closely associated with the art scene in Los Angeles between the late 1950s and the mid-1980s. The donation includes a number of works, as well as plans, editions, posters and books. In total, several hundred art objects of various kinds have been added to the Kunsthaus collection and library. These include a drawing by Dan Flavin (1933-1996) and a series of fluorescent tubes, the preferred material of this important minimalist artist. Hal Glicksman organized an exhibition of Flavin’s work at the Otis Art Institute, the university gallery he directed at the time, in 1976. Flavin produced two grids of neon tubes for the occasion, with a dedication to the Glicksman couple in their title. In 2024, the Kunsthaus invited the artist Mathias C. Pfund to conduct research on the drawings and tubes. The result is an impressive study that questions the concepts of originality and ownership, but also dedication and friendship, based on an essentially immaterial work.

Mathias C. Pfund: With Fondest Regards / Kunsthaus Biel Centre d’art Bienne. September 14, 2024.

Mathias C. Pfund was born in 1992. He lives and works between Geneva and Brussels. Mathias C. Pfund is “interested in the (re)circulation of signs that produce meaning in specific contexts of intervention. Using a case study approach, I pay particular attention to the traceability of images: their origins, their various generations, their copies and modalities of appearance. I also seek to examine the representations of art and the various ideologies and authorities that underlie them. As such, art in the public space and in museums are among my favorite subjects. My work is often accompanied by historiographical researches which are occasionally published.” (source: website Mathias C. Pfund).

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