Julia Mangold: A Measure of Space _ An online exclusive

Bartha_contemporary is pleased to present an Ocula online exclusive exhibition featuring a seminal work by German artist Julia Mangold. Celebrating more than a quarter century of collaboration, this single-work presentation considers Julia Mangold’s work in a broader context.

Indeed, Julia Mangold’s O.T. 029 (2009) brings geometric abstraction into direct contact with Architecture. Extending from the wall towards the floor, its dark planes establish a measured interplay of projection, overlap and open space. This online showcase concentrates on a single work, inviting closer consideration of how a sculpture can articulate the room around it through a carefully judged arrangement of elements.The composition unfolds through changes in viewpoint. Seen from one side, its overlapping planes gather into an almost continuous silhouette. From another, they separate, revealing passages of wall and the depth between individual surfaces. Narrower vertical elements hold broad rectangular fields in tension, while shadows introduce further divisions. The spaces between the forms become as consequential as the forms themselves.This spatial language recalls El Lissitzky’s Proun experiments, particularly his Proun Room of 1923, which extended abstract composition into an environment experienced through movement. Across the decades, both works invite us to consider geometry as something encountered physically, through the relationship between an object, its setting and the moving viewer. The comparison offers a historical perspective on Mangold’s work, whose particular character emerges through its material surfaces and measured engagement with its surroundings.Pigment, lacquer and wax on wood produce dark surfaces that respond subtly to light. Their apparent solidity is tempered by tonal shifts, with edges and recesses becoming more or less distinct as the viewing angle changes. This sensitivity brings a tactile dimension to the precision of the construction.The work’s proximity to the floor is central to the encounter. Unusually for a wall relief, its composition reaches into the lower register of the room, bringing height, depth and distance into relation with the viewer’s body. Wall and floor become active coordinates within the work. Precise yet perceptually changeable, O.T. 029 rewards sustained attention to how space is divided, connected and experienced.