Exhibition: "Close Encounters" by Till Könneker: Galerie SOON at sitem-insel, Freiburgstrasse 3, 3010 Bern

To mark the start of the new cooperation between the SOON Gallery and the research centre sitem-insel (Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine), we are showing "Close Encounters" by Till Könneker in the rooms at Freiburgstrasse 3.

 Opening hours:

7.8.2020 - 12.9.2020

Mon-Fri: 08-16h

Free access via the main entrance at

Freiburgstrasse 3, 3010 Bern

Exhibition in the hall at the reception

To the exhibition:

Till Könneker, the bustling Bernese artist with Berlin roots, offers completely new views of his environment. He has used a scanner to take pictures in his immediate surroundings. The scans show small, often unnoticed things and allow the viewer to dive into an unknown world.

Till Könneker ( *1980, Berlin) surprises in the exhibition with very special views of his environment. In his constant search for new perspectives he found this time in the garden behind his studio in Bern. Seen from very close up, the world is a different one, and Till has captured it with a scanner. In the pictures, he enables the viewer to dive into this world of often unnoticed, small things - they all tell a story and are at the same time food for something new.

Small stones, abandoned bodies of insects, plastic parts and seeds become visible through close observation. Where do they come from and how long have they been there? How does life take place in our immediate surroundings, but still not really perceptible?

Through his technique with the scanner, time is also integrated and captured in the picture. The scanner scans the document step by step, the higher the resolution the longer the scanning process takes. This enables the recording of movement. A beetle that crawls, a worm that crawls, a branch that moves, everything in a period of 15 minutes is registered and captured on an image. In this way special documents are created, a moment for us, contemporary history in this small world.

Till Könneker describes it as follows: "Working with the scanner in the garden was obvious to me because it is a good instrument for exact observations but still allows imagination."

About the new partnership:

sitem-insel is an independent, non-profit, public-private partnership.
The Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine in Berne, is a milestone in the development of the Canton of Berne into an internationally important medical location. The coordinated cooperation between research, industry and, in particular, the cross-divisional networking of start-ups in the healthcare sector leads to an easier conversion of inventions into products for patients.

Creativity and innovation go hand in hand, and the partnership with the SOON Gallery gives the tenants* in the sitem building a new perspective on research, cooperation, the environment or their own work. For its part, the gallery SOON is entering an interesting field.

The new concept of the gallery SOON provides for pop-up shows and the connection of art in an everyday context, or not (only) in a gallery space that is disconnected from everyday life.
We are looking forward to a long-term, creative partnership. Click here for the website of sitem-insel.