Lives and works in Berlin (Germany)
The sculptures of Manfred Pernice always have something provisional about them, one could almost say shabby. Manfred Pernice arranges space-saving structures made of simple material, mostly plywood, particleboard or cardboard. Sometimes they are reminiscent of cans, sometimes architectural structures, which he places in the way of his audience. An unforgettable example of this is his contribution to the first Berlin Biennial in 1998: a six-meter-high plywood construction called Haupt- bzw. Zentraldose (“Main/central can”), Pernice’s interpretation of the Tatlin tower, which was never actually built. Another work called Ohne Titel (Hässliche Luise) (“Untitled (Ugly Luise)”) refers to a real building in this case. Here the cultural memory of bygone times manifests itself in a remarkable way: "Ugly Luise" was a prefabricated building behind the Reichstag, which at the beginning of the nineties was demolished so as not to interfere with the sleek uniform look of the newly erected buildings of the government district. Pernice acquired the remains of a GDR gaming machine and transplanted its bent, rusted rods into the context of art as a post-socialist relic.
 
Bank 03, 2003, wood, plastic, 63 x 378 x 93 cm
Donation to Kunstpalast Düsseldorf
Ohne Titel (Hässliche Luise), 2004, metall, concrete, 185 x 80 x 50 cm
Donation to Kunstpalast Düsseldorf