EN FORMA | NIT DE L'ART
20.09 –– 14.11.2025

EN FORMA
Artists: Elisa Braem, Edward Lipski and Damaris Pan
Text: Cristina Ramos
Nit de l’Art 20.09.2025

“En Forma” brings together a collection of works in which sculpture manifests as a form of sensitive thought. The material becomes a threshold to be crossed with undivided attention, like someone entering a land where the visible is merely the gateway to other dimensions of possible realms.

A common characteristic among the exhibiting artists is their rigorous work with matter from an intensely physical, corporal perspective. As anthropologist Anna Tsing writes, worlds are not fixed or given entities, but processes that emerge from relationships between humans and non-humans, under constant transformation and negotiation. As such, the works actively collaborate in the creation of a shared space, shared between themselves and those who experience them, where unique narratives come to light. At these crossroads between the human and the non-human, Elisa Braem’s works are particularly noteworthy, whose poetics stem from the intersection of the natural sphere with human experience. Her ceramic works focus on organic forms and perception, exploring how the material can evoke states of transition and ambiguity.

Exhibitions can hold ritualistic dimensions that transform a physical necessity—that of transforming matter—into a communal and emotional event. In this sense, “En Forma”becomes a conjuring that weaves together a series of objects brought to life by materials that have their own stories: casein in Edward Lipski’s work, clay in Elisa Braem’s, and paper in Damaris Pan’s. All the materials are meagre and highly sensitive to manipulation. It is, therefore, the treatment, the attention to form, time, and artistic manipulation that produce a transformation—not only of matter, but also of consciousness and perceptual capacities. For Edward Lipski, this ritual and symbolic dimension is expressed in sculptures that operate as vehicles that transport us between worlds. Influenced by Mesoamerican, Asian and Christian concepts, his figures—such as Horse, Green Monkey or Fruit Monkey—bear an ambiguous and silent presence.

The works are not presented as isolated entities, but rather as bodies that influence one another. The sculptures, although different in terms of language and origin, share a sensitivity towards matter as an active element: not merely a conveyor of form, but also of narrative and possibility. Instead of thinking about predefined inter-actions between pieces, we could refer to intra-actions, following the example of Karen Barad, where the exhibition in itself influences the visitor’s experience. The forms evoke the organic, the symbolic, the everyday, but they are not limited to representation: they remain very much alive in their capacity to evoke. From this relational perspective, Damaris Pan’s work offers a critical reflection on artistic practice and material fragility. In Self-Portrait (2025), three columns of paper and cardboard—like trunks carved with an axe—take the place of the original heads that were discarded during the process. This transformation alters the image, but also redefines the very idea of self-representation: no longer a figurative gesture, but a material trace, marked by cuts and textures that evoke rough, almost plant-like skin.

As ethologist and philosopher Vinciane Despret puts it, what matters is not so much what a thing is, but what a thing makes to do. In this exhibition, that ‘making to do’ becomes an exercise in attention and fiction: a way of allowing oneself to be affected by the works and inhabiting forms that are neither closed nor defined, but remain alive in their openness. Rather than telling us what they are, these pieces open up senses, activate touch and memory, and point towards the as yet unnamed. I am particularlyinterested in how Despret turns scientific language into a form of biography; something similar takes place with the methodologies of these artists, who explore through form and gesture. As one of their fictional scientists says: ‘Remember that it is not only living things that have stories to tell.’ The works allow us to discern the soul of matter, and with it, the possibilities of their own autobiographies.

References

Karen Barad, “Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning”, p. 33. Durham: Duke University Press: 2006
Vinciane Despret, “Autobiographie d’un poulpe”, p.71. Bilbao: Consonni, 2022.
Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, “The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins”. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015.

BIOS

Elisa Braem (Ostend, 1991) graduated and took a MA in Sculpture at theRoyal Academy of Art and Design en Amberes, Belgium (2015-2016). In 2016 also took MA Cultural Theory, Anthropology, Goldsmith, University of London. (U.K) 2016. In september 2025 she will hold her first institutional solo exhibition at Es Baluard Museum in Palma. She has undertook the folowing residency programmes: Cerámicas Suro en Guadalajara, México (2023), Guldagergaard. International ceramic research center, Denmark (2021) and Hangar Lisboa Portugal (2019). She participated in the Internacional Ceramic Bienal, museum of Manises, Valencia (Spain) 2019- 2020. Solo and group exhibitions include: Amarillo Púrpura, galería Fermay, Palma, 2023, TACA. Ana Pon La mesa!, Palma, 2022, Terreny, group exhibition curated by Cristina Ramos. Mallorca (Spain) 2021, Hit Me On The Head I Got Ohh!, Palma, 2021

Edward Lipski (Londres, 1966) lives and works in London. His work is part of a nukber of internationalcollecitons such as S.M.A.K., Ghent; M HKA, Antwerp; Mudam Luxembourg; Arts Council, UK; Fondation Antoine de Galbert, Paris; Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht; Centraal Museum, Utrecht; BASMOCA, London;and Stedelijk Museum het Domein, Sittard. Recent exhibitions include Conversations. Contemporary and historical masters in dialogue — Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp, Belgium (2023), HYBRIDES / HYBRIDEN: Composite Creatures from Sagas, Myths and Legends — Cultuurhuis / Art Center de Warande, Turnhout, Belgium (2024), Désordres — Extraits from collection Antoine de Galbert — Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon (macLYON) (2024), Face-à-Face. Moderne Galerie/Mudam Luxembourg: Two collections in dialogue, Mudam, Luxembourg City (2022), Edward Lipski, Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, (2021) among many others.

Damaris Pan lives and works in Bilbao where she combines her artistic practice with a teaching position in the department of Painting at Fine Arts University of the Basque Country. In 2024 Damaris Pan received the presitigious BMW Painting prize and had her first solo institutional show at Museo Patio Herreriano in Valladolid with an exhibition titled “OALDDILAL V”. In 2021 the artist received the prize Gure Artea and two Eremuak scholarships. Previous solo exhibitions include Male Male, galería Fermay, 2023, Un Martillo en la Cabeza, Ana Mas Projects, Barcelona 2022, Veri Pery, Half House, Barcelona, 2022. Damaris Pan has participated in artistic residencies such as Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Chongqing, China (2019), Art OMI in New York (2018) and Kunsthochschule Weissensee, Berlin (2005). Her work is part of national and international collections such as Fundación ARCO - CA2M, Artium Museoa, Fundación La Caixa, Banco abadell, Fundación BilbaoArte, Colección Modus Vivendi, E-Innova Lab Art Collection, Francis J. Greenburger, Time Equities, Inc., or The Art OMI Collection, Colección Kells

This exhibition has the support of Consell de Mallorca - Departamento de Cultura.