OM.2026.007 - Berni Stephanus - Switzerland

OM.2026.007 - collage on paper - 11 x 16.5 inches - Berni Stephanus - Switzerland

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This striking analogue collage by Swiss artist Berni Stephanus presents a surreal, humorous juxtaposition that plays with movement, perspectives, and the layering of distinct spatial realities. A long-term contributor to the Museum of Collage archives, Stephanus’s signature approach of recontextualizing historical and everyday memories is on full display here through several clever compositional choices: 

Spatial Contradictions & Layering

• The Split Stage: The composition is fundamentally split down the center, merging an outdoor alpine mountain vista on the left with an indoor, stark black-and-white rehearsal studio on the right.
• The "Tutu-Cam" Intervention: The central punchline of the piece is the seamless hybrid figure on the left. Stephanus has expertly pasted the upper torso of a retro-clad photographer onto the lower legs and expansive white tutu of a ballerina. The photographer leans back dramatically to catch a shot, a gesture hilariously matched by the kinetic tilt of the dancer's pose.
• The Echoed Gaze: On the far left, a woman in a mountain jacket and glasses points enthusiastically toward the peaks, echoing the theatrical, outward-reaching arms of the young center ballerina in her vibrant blue bodice.

Texture, Scale, and Context

• Choreographed Chaos: In the background of the dance studio, an authoritative male figure looks on with a clipboard while onlookers watch from the shadows, introducing a sense of rigid, classical discipline that directly contrasts with the bizarre, mismatched figures occupying the foreground.
• Splicing Time: By intersecting the natural scale of a mountain range with the intimate floorboards of a ballet studio, Stephanus removes the subjects from their original narratives, constructing an entirely fresh, whimsical "performance" out of fragments of the past.