Te Water Gelaat

A work titled Te Water Gelaat (translated as In the Water), was created by the artist and UP Alumni, Berco Wilsenach. The work was commissioned for the upgrade of the Aula building on the University of Pretoria's main campus in 2012. In this work, water is depicted three-dimensionally as sustenance and life-giving element in the “fluid” medium of glass. The materiality of the medium of glass was also used as a means to visually resemble water within the work. The inherent properties of the medium, its transparency and fragility, allow an ironic undertone: a whale’s skeleton is revealed below when the light that plays on the surface penetrates the glass. Water courses in a constant cycle of life and death. The initial idea from the architects of the Aula Building where Te Water Gelaat is situated, was for a water feature to be in the space. However, the University of Pretoria felt that with water being a scarcity in Africa, it would not be socially responsible to use water for aesthetic purposes. Te Water gelaat was installed into its permanent space by the artist in 2013. Short biography: Berco Wilsenach (1974-) completed a BA (Fine Arts) (1996) and a MA (Fine Arts) (2002) from the University of Pretoria. He also furthered his studies at the Accademia di Belli Arte in Genova, Italy (2004) and the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in Germany (2005-2006), with governmental bursaries from the respective countries. He has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions both in South Africa and abroad in prominent galleries and museums such as the Pretoria Art Museum, Palazzo Ducale in Genoa, Villa Croce Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Genova, Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna, the Smithsonian Institute’s Museum for African Art in Washington D.C and the Newark Museum, NY. He was awarded a four year grant from the Spier Arts Trust Patronage Program (South Africa) to complete his large scale Project for the Blind Astronomer (2009-2013) which was exhibited at the Museum of African Design, Johannesburg, and the Stegman Gallery in Bloemfontein. Apart from various merit awards, Wilsenach won the PPC Young Sculptor’s Award (1997) and the ABSA L'Atelier (2005). Wilsenach is to date teaching as part time lecturer at the University of Pretoria and presents workshops on a regular basis at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.