Verbal Description: Jonathan Berger’s An Introduction to Nameless Love

Jonathan Berger’s An Introduction to Nameless Love (2019) is an installation of tin, nickel, and charcoal. Its dimensions are variable. 

In its entirety, Jonathan Berger’s An Introduction to Nameless Love is a large-scale sculptural installation consisting of 6 text-based sculptures of different shapes and sizes that are based on 6 complex love stories. Three of those stories are on view in the Biennial. Each sculpture is comprised of one narrative that tells a tale about love. The letters that form the text are cut from tin and are 1 inch in height. After it is cut, each letter is hammered and prepared by hand before it is soldered into structures made out of nickel wire. Letter by letter forms sentence after sentence until the complete narrative unfolds. Some of the sculptures are architectural in nature. One work frames a doorway. Their large size makes movement integral to our reading of the story. The tin letters are affected by light and the texts appear to sometimes float in space. The floor is made of cubes of compressed charcoal. The soft black material slowly changes under the visitors’ body weight and leaves grey afterimages from the soles of our feet or the tread of our tires.