SoiL Thornton

The Kunstverein Bielefeld is delighted to present Decomposition Evaluation, the first institutional solo exhibition of the work of SoiL Thornton to be held in Germany. Thornton’s practice engages with the underlying conditions for the exhibition, presentation and representation of artistic production. Who represents what? Which roles are assigned to any particular artist? What are the underlying processes of economic exploitation? How are identity, individuality, and biography used to shape artists into brands? And what is it that constitutes value?

SoiL Thornton’s artistic work questions precisely these processes, the ways by which a society constitutes agreed norms and sets up established power relations. Their approach is often about measuring the tension between an idea and its material implementation. Thornton has developed this exhibition specifically for the Kunstverein Bielefeld, including new installative works. One concept moving through the exhibition is based on an investigation of the visual effects of chroma keying, examples of which can be seen both in the invitation card presented here and in the site-specific wall work Beginnings of dematerialized space / containment through exercising imagination then exercising active practice? (ready to go) (2022) shown at the Kunstverein Bielefeld. In film production, key colors like chroma green are used to create backgrounds on which to overlay digital content. Thornton’s work has an abiding interest in questions of how things appear and how meaning comes to be. Their works are an appeal to fiction and its inherent possibilities for self-transcendence.

The exhibition will be accompanied by an official publication, supported by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation as part of their Catalogues for Young Artists award.