Pulverisation, a talk by Benjamin Reynolds and Valle Medina (Pa.LaC.E)

Excerpt from Paris Hermitage, 2016, Co-published by Pa.LaC.E and Co-Ed: New York, pp.15-16.

“Pulverization is of the domain of the microscopic; the infinitesimal. It represents the extreme fragmentation of matter that constitutes something that still has potential; a compound of nascent vectors. Pulverized material occurs through the physical and instantaneous act of high pressure crushing/grinding—the breaking of solids—which makes it radically distinct from dust. Dust forms from the disintegration of matter and the passing of time. Dust is lifeless. The visual consummation of pulverization was enacted in the worldmaking in the event of 9-11, which played out not as a rupture but as a shattering of erstwhile relations between us and the things that support us. It enacted the widespread verification of new realities like work being detached from territory which affects our social body; the deprivation of bodily experiences that used to define the social; the fragmentation of the structure of knowledge; of stylistic unity; grand world narratives and certainties in general.

Just as potentials are still recoverable within pulverized matter—vectors as both vital and still alive—an agglomeration of pulverized wholes can only but resemble an original state of something.”

“The work of Valle Medina and Benjamin Reynolds can be understood as ‘conceits’ borrowed from the metaphysical poets, as drawn-out, turns of images. Their works are comprised of numerous discrete décors that access ideas; together they contribute to a ‘sense,’ a vector. It is through exhaustive ‘idea surveys’ that their works play out, stemming from their interest in large acts of human endeavour (encyclopedic projects, expeditions, taxa etc.), a cause meant to ‘reinforce the naturalisation’ of their work as contexts ceaselessly shift.” –Faye S. Oppenheim

Valle Medina and Benjamin Reynolds are co-founders of Pa.LaC.E, a group based in Basel. Valle was born in Spain. She was a Geisendorf fellow at the ETH Zürich D-ARCH, where she graduated summa cum laude from the Chair of Computer Aided Architectural Design, and is a recent fellow of the Danish Arts Foundation. Benjamin was born in Australia. He received a diploma with honours from the Architectural Association, London. They have previously been fellows at the Van Eyck Academie in Maastricht and the OMI International Center for The Arts in New York amongst others. Their first major monograph—Paris Hermitage—was released in 2017 with Cooperative Editions (New York).