Kamogelo Walaza
nationality
south africa
area
Curator
recidence
Johannsburg
institution
time period
May – June 2025
Layered Materialities and Sensory Encounters: A Review of Exhibitions by Francis Offman, Jeremy Shaw, and Ariane Mueller
Written by: Kamogelo Walaza
The recent exhibitions by Francis Offman (Weaving Stories), Jeremy Shaw (Towards Logarithmic Delay), and Ariane Mueller (Fish are folded into the sea just as the sea is folded into fish) offer distinct yet interrelated approaches to contemporary art, united by their exploration of material, memory, and the politics of perception. Each artist challenges conventional modes of exhibition-making, rethinking not only what art can represent but how it is presented, encountered, and understood. The result is a compelling triad of practices that foreground sensorial experience, historical engagement, and critical reflection.
Francis Offman’s Weaving Stories is grounded in autobiographical memory and postcolonial critique, communicated through tactile materiality. One of the most striking aspects of the exhibition is the use of dried coffee grounds not only on canvas but also directly on the walls leading into the space. As one enters the gallery, a striking glistening effect on the walls immediately captures attention, enhancing the visual impact of the artwork. This shimmering quality contributes to a serene, meditative atmosphere, inviting viewers to pause, sit, and engage more deeply with the space. The subtle aroma of coffee, combined with the glistening surfaces and the presence of a coffee ground installation, creates a richly embodied sensory experience. Together, these elements produce an immersive environment that deepens the viewer’s engagement with the exhibition space.
Coffee, as both material and metaphor, lies at the heart of Offman’s practice signifying not only his Rwandan heritage but also broader histories of colonial extraction and global migration. Francis Offman’s exhibition embraces a minimalist aesthetic, reflecting his intentional effort to avoid overwhelming the viewer with visual density. This sparseness is not a negation but an invitation, an opportunity for sustained engagement with each work. Central to Offman’s practice is the process of material collection, which extends beyond the purely functional to encompass a social and relational dimension. He describes a deep appreciation for the interpersonal exchanges that occur during this phase, as individuals offer not only found objects but also personal narratives. These encounters become integral to the artworks themselves, forming a conceptual layer within his abstract compositions. What initially appears as formal abstraction reveals, upon closer inspection, an intricate network of found materials—bed linens, clothing, shoeboxes, coffee grounds each carrying embedded histories. This tactile and layered approach reinforces the autobiographical and postcolonial resonances of Offman’s work. The viewer, when drawn into proximity, uncovers the complexity and interconnectivity that define his practice, underscoring the ways in which material, memory, and meaning coalesce within his visual language.
Jeremy Shaw’s Towards Logarithmic Delay constructs a liminal space that resists the sterile neutrality of the conventional gallery. By embracing an intentionally unfinished architectural aesthetic—exposed seams, raw walls, and visible construction materials, the exhibition foregrounds materiality and undermines the illusion of the gallery as a neutral frame. This roughness transforms the space into a zone suspended between opposites: belief and collapse, science and mysticism, control and chaos. Rather than guiding the viewer toward resolution, the work cultivates a tension of incompletion, invoking a metaphysical instability that mirrors the cognitive dissonance of modern existence. The spatial design, with its symmetrical arrangements and altar-like focal points, echoes the symbolism of religious architecture while unsettling its promises. The stained glass and programmed LED candles reference spiritual ritual, yet also evoke retro-futurist aesthetics and artificiality,suggesting a convergence of sacred imagery and technological simulation. Infinity, in Shaw’s world, is not tranquil but vertiginous, reconfigured as a site of existential searching rather than certainty.
This dynamic interplay between the spiritual and the synthetic is further developed through Shaw’s sculptural and temporal interventions. The triangle of fused Klein bottles, delicately coated with DMT residue—serves not only as a symbol of psychedelic experience but as a kind of metaphysical relic, embodying the instability of perception and the collapse of linear time. Time in Towards Logarithmic Delay is not depicted as a forward march but as something recursive and elastic, looping in on itself like the topological forms it references. The inclusion of ritualistic elements, such as seating arrangements, flickering artificial flames, and floor mats inviting postural engagement, draws the viewer’s body into an immersive rhythm, blurring the lines between contemplation, submission, and surveillance. Even the artificiality of these cues does not diminish their affective power; instead, it emphasizes how easily ritual can persist within constructed systems. Shaw’s work thus poses deeply contemporary questions: not only “What do we believe in?” but also “What structures of belief—religious, technological, or ideological—are we already enacting without even realizing it?”
Ariane Mueller Fish are folded into the sea just as the sea is folded into fish addresses war, retreat, and collective memory through a dual structure of contrast: between withdrawal and engagement, between solitude and solidarity. The exhibition reflects Mueller’s decades-long engagement with the theme of war, from the Yugoslav conflict to the Iraq War and, more recently, the invasion of Ukraine. Created using extended brush handles a method that intentionally distances the artist’s hand these works embrace a quiet minimalism. The marks are spare, the colours subdued, and the surfaces often appear with an openness, as though caught in a state of becoming. Yet within this openness lies a certain beauty. The paintings do not assert themselves through scale or intensity; instead, they gently pull the viewer in. There is something profoundly affecting about the way they withhold clarity, inviting closer inspection rather than immediate comprehension. One wonders whether it is the availibity of the images, the tentative brushwork, or the silence embedded in the compositions that creates this emotional gravity. These works do not shout, they whisper. And in that whisper, there is an invitation to pause, to reflect, and perhaps to find solace in their openness. Mueller’s paintings offer a space not just for seeing, but for feeling subtly and deeply.
Complementing these landscapes is a constellation of video works presented in the second half of the exhibition. Installed on screens arranged according to the star alignment over Austria on April 8, 2025, these videos document moments of collective action, non-instrumental labour, and alternative storytelling. Mueller has also created a constellation of video works, scattered throughout the exhibition space in a seemingly irregular yet deliberate manner. Unlike many video installations, which risk overwhelming the viewer through visual or auditory overload, these works remain quietly present. One might wonder whether this is due to the absence of sound or the way they are visually embedded within wide, minimal boards that absorb rather than demand attention. The maze-like curation of the space where videos appear in corners, along paths, or at unexpected intervals encourages an embodied, almost exploratory engagement. Rather than simply watching, the viewer moves, pauses, and adjusts their position in relation to each piece. This creates a rhythm of reflection, allowing for a contemplative pacing that resonates deeply with the broader themes of the exhibition. The fragmented arrangement becomes not a distraction, but a meditative structure an environment in which each video stands alone while contributing to a larger atmosphere of quiet introspection.
Ariane Müller, Fish are folded into the sea just as the sea is folded into fish, installation view, Secession 2025. Photo: Oliver Ottenschläger
Taken together, the exhibitions by Francis Offman, Jeremy Shaw, and Ariane Mueller reveal a shared commitment to destabilizing conventional exhibition formats and reorienting the viewer’s sensory and cognitive engagement. Whether through Offman’s materially rich meditations on memory and migration, Shaw’s immersive inquiries into altered states and transcendence, or Mueller’s quiet evocations of war and collective memory, each artist presents a distinctive yet complementary vision of how contemporary art can be both affective and critically charged. These practices do not simply ask to be viewed; they ask to be felt, inhabited, and reflected upon. In their varied approaches to materiality, temporality, and spatial design, they challenge the viewer to reconsider the boundaries between artwork, environment, and self. Ultimately, these exhibitions affirm the power of art to create layered, embodied encounters that linger. long after the viewer has left the gallery space
