For her first institutional solo exhibition, Alice produced a group of works that built on her research and experimentation with pigments and yoghurt bacteria. The artist understands these works as living entities that morph, mould and decay decentering the human. The title-giving installation Conditioning Demands presents six closed ecosystems hanging in hand-blown glass vessels that are framed by printed silk fabrics. As in a laboratory, a biochemical process takes place in the transparent vessels: six mineral pigments of art-historical significance (aegirine, cinnabarite, cavansite, yellow ochre, malachite, lapis lazuli) are each placed in a bacterial solution with a folded canvas. Some of these natural pigments have been used in painting since the Stone Age. For centuries then they have been systematically extracted through mining activi- ties, shipped and sold as powder to be mixed with binders and applied as painterly means. Their material origin testifies to human exploitation of natural resources and capitalist commodifica- tion. The aesthetic development of Western painterly tradition goes hand in hand with the history of this violent relationship. Alice Morey attempts a different way. Throughout the exhibition dura- tion, the activity of microorganisms forms changing constellations of colour and form with the pigments. The artist allows a planned loss of control with the intention of liberating the painterly means from human determination. Following this approach, Test One (Malachite) is the most radical painting in the exhibition. The artist’s agency was almost completely withdrawn and the canvas was left in the glass vessel to the processes of pigment and bacteria. The resulting mould moves the pigments, leaving marks on the canvas. After ten days, Morey removed the canvas and framed it, thus transfering it into a classi- cal presentation format. In contrast, the single brushstrokes in Burnt out Blue, on a canvas primed with yoghurt bacteria, signal the presence of an active painterly hand. They are fugitive marks at the verge between pure gesture and hinted sign system that evoke formal associations with the microorganisms involved. A Map of Tenderness gets its earthy colour note from the clay which the artist collected in Portugal. Under the influence of lactic acid bacteria, the surface has developed a mould patina. Although the painting is declared a map by the title, it dissolves into a play of hap- tic surface and sensual immersion.

"One Thing Left to Try“ is a series of three solo exhibitions by the artists Zishi Han (23.10.21- 23.1.22), Gabbi Cattani (5.3.-15.5.22) and Alice Morey (4.6.-18.9.22) at the MEWO Kunsthalle in Memmingen. Curated by Lorenzo Graf, the project deals with experiences of overwhelming and powerlessness. The subjects of the Global North are supposed to act in a strong, self-determined, resilient and, above all, entrepreneurial way. The narrative of liberal individualism ascribes to subjects the po- tential not only to successfully influence the world, but to oversee it. This alleged potential goes hand in hand with the enormous societal pressure to fulfil these requirements. The philosopher and sociologist Maurizio Lazzarato calls this process "social subjection". At the same time, in the late capitalist system, divisive forces act on every subject, a phenomenon called "machinic enslavement" by Lazzarato. The marketing machineries with their algorithms split subjects into categories of information, whose data sets constitute a capital for companies to be extracted. Subjects become components of a machinery that affects and uses them, but escapes their understanding. Alienation emerges from the fact that the extracted data is not addressed to the subjects and unreadable for them. The discrepancy between the processes of social subjection and machinic enslavement leads to feelings of powerlessness. Subjects are continuously overwhelmed by having to act in a world where their agency is extremely limited. This state of overwhelming has often pathological conse- quences, which are reflected in the spread of depressive disorders. The medical and pharmacologi- cal rehabilitation of the broken subject does not only serve the maintenance of the narrative of a strong-self, but also the interests of the market, which relies for its transactions on subjects who are apparently capable of making decisions and consume. The project One Thing Left to Try intervenes at the point of rehabilitation in order to interrupt the cycle. While the recovery of the pathologised subject aims to minimize the negative implications of being overwhelmed, the project seeks to accentuate its side effects. Instead of restoring a self meant to be systematically broken again, subjects should dwell in their own fragmentation. Sen- sing, touching and searching for an intimacy towards one’s own overwhelming may lead to this alternative path. The invited artists produce new works where the experience of states of overwhelming and powerlessness is allowed, not being regarded as an obstacle. The state of feeling overwhelmed is claimed as a place to stay.

This show would not have been made possible without the help and support of;

Collaborations and discussions with Mirco-biologist, Mirela Alistar
Hand-blown glass vessels in collaboration with Torsten Rötzsch
Berlin-based Screenprint studio, Et al Press
Stiftung Kunstfonds

*** curated by Lorenzo Graf
+++ photo credits by Sebastian Bühler

The RYDER is pleased to present She doesn’t love, she just devours, the first solo show in the UK by artist Alice Morey. The exhibition offers insight into Morey’s ongoing experimentations with materials and processes to address the impact of ecology, tradition and digital technologies in contemporary subjectivities. Working across installation, sculpture, painting and performance, Morey invites the audience to participate in a ritual with a special sensibility towards materials, care relationships and their political implications. In her installation Quit playing games with my heart, a fragile hanging structure holds a series of elements connected through clinical plastic tubes: pheasant hides, urine bags, a beating heart GIF. All these elements conform an uncanny live system that, when put together, brings up questions of class, feminism and power. The pheasant, historically conceived as a male hunting trophy, shifts here into a different narrative, occupying a new role as an element of this contemporary still life composition. Unexpected encounters also occur in her paintings, where homemade yogurt and charcoal are used to depict abstract configurations of porcelain chains and containers. In her painting Puncture, the canvas is tattooed using a needle and tattoo ink, seeking to address and transgress the physicality of the canvas itself. The porcelain chains portrayed in Puncture come forth at Unicorn Condom, holding a silk conformation containing inflated pig intestines and coloured with natural pigments and Spirulina. This strange form navigates between fantasy and reality referring a mythological character while using biological materials such as guts and seaweed. During the opening, Morey will present her live performance Pure, consisting of the artist cooking a whole pheasant stew with handmade porcelain kitchenware that will progressively break and stain. The process will allow participants to connect to the familiarity of eating together while challenging the complexity of food and craft from a feminine perspective.

+++ photo credits Aina Pomer

LEHMANN + SILVA presents “Shapes of Permanence”, the first solo exhibition by Alice Morey (1986, London, UK) in Portugal. Alice Morey is a London-born artist based in Berlin. She studied at Camberwell College of Arts and University of Brighton before moving to Berlin in 2009. She has been exhibiting regularly in London, Berlin and Prague in venues such as Top Schillerpalais (Berlin), Kunsthaus LA54, (Berlin), National Gallery Veletrzni Palace (Prague) and Kunsthaus Bethanien (Berlin) among others. She has built her art practice amongst an experimental art scene in Berlin and has experimented with building environments in site-specific locations that have been become a heavy influence on her painting processes. She is interested in how the work is controlled by its environment. Her work breaks down boundaries of traditional methods of painting by using chemical experiments and through creating her own rituals in material processes. Her methods often combine categorisations of objects, painting and performance, and her materials range from clay, homemade charcoal, natural pigments, hydrochloric acid and yoghurt. There is a dialectic of absence and presence in her work, as well as of permanence and change. Her paintings’ hazy surfaces often veil deeper layers. Not all can be seen and mutation persists as the art bears the indelible marks of changes through the transformative substances that integrate the texture of her works. Exploring questions around what remains within artworks and what changes and develops beyond the artist’s control, her work evolves out of this dialogue between the expressive narrative of painting and the immersion of the works within the processes of nature.

*** exhibition text written by Louisa Elderton
+++ photo credits Dinis Santos

In her latest solo exhibition, Sui Generis (Love Note), Alice Morey presents a new work that delves into the tension between artistic creation and the nature of the gaze within the transparent, confined environment of Cabine.cabinet. Known for her experimental approach to painting and materiality, Morey responds to the vitrine’s unique spatial and conceptual challenges, creating a site-specific piece for this setting.

Morey’s practice is deeply rooted in her fascination with organic forms, particularly her study of moulds and bacteria. Her ongoing research into microbial systems—used as metaphors for the evolution of marks and traces on surfaces—subverts traditional perceptions of painting. This critique of the commodification of art, particularly painting within the marketplace, was central to her 2022 solo exhibition Conditioning Demands at Mewo Kunsthalle (curated by Lorenzo Graf), where she expressed the frustrations of being an artist in a market-driven context. There, she explored alternative methods of mark-making, challenging the use of paint as the primary medium.

In Sui Generis (Love Note), Morey unveils one of a series of paintings that have evolved over time in an environment she designed within an abandoned house on the same land where her studio has been for the past three years in Rangsdorf, a town just outside of Berlin. Due to property issues, she is soon forced to leave this space. The painting itself was left to decay and transform in the house, wrapped in plastic foil, exposed to bright lights, heaters, and sealed with curtains, all set within the melancholic atmosphere of the house's history. The space itself held a haunting presence, with remnants of the past, including a poem scrawled on the walls: "you were here, before you were drunk."
These paintings represent Morey’s desire to let go of the need for control and beauty in art—much like in life or the fleeting hope of lost love. With this, she allows the viewer to access her intimate space by scanning sections of her diary, presented through a QR code. The work functions as a visual love letter, exploring themes of ephemeral connection and isolation. Encased within the vitrine, it creates a self-contained biotope—a microcosm that reflects the transient, often overlooked nature of intimacy.
Simultaneously, the vitrine serves as a historical mechanism of display and scrutiny, inviting viewers to question their relationship with what is shown.

The title Sui Generis, meaning “of its own kind,” captures Morey’s interest in constructing a personal world of research, process, and archival material. This world includes intimate writings, sketches, photographs, and paintings that chronicle her evolving practice. Her work suggests that social constructs—like the layers in her art—develop organically over time, eventually becoming embedded in society, much like the theories of sociologist Émile Durkheim. Love, like art, is a shared, constructed experience that becomes part of the collective consciousness, though its origins are often difficult to trace.

This exhibition spotlights Morey’s evolving body of work, continuing her exploration of the intersections between art, biology, and social constructs.

*** curated by Muriel Lisk-McIntyre
+++ courtesy of the artist

BLANK at BRAVO hosted The Dissolving Palette, an innovative conceptual dinner featuring artist Alice Morey, curated by MOCT, with a menu crafted by Paula Erstmann. The event invited participants on a sensory exploration of edible pigments, colorful liquids, and interactive materials, culminating in guests creating their own culinary "palettes" on handmade ceramics and silks. Alice Morey’s artistic practice, centered on granting autonomy to natural ecosystems and biochemical processes, shaped the evening’s ethos. By stepping back as a dominant creative force, Morey allowed the materials—many foraged or edible—to express their own transformative narratives, challenging traditional human-centric perspectives.
Paula Erstmann, known for her intuitive approach to food and materiality, contributed a thoughtfully designed menu that bridged art and gastronomy. Drawing from seasonal and foraged ingredients, her dishes encouraged guests to experience taste as a medium for storytelling and connection to the natural world. The menu featured an evolving palette of ingredients such as beetroot, turmeric, spirulina, nettles, hibiscus, and wild herbs, offering guests opportunities to engage in a tactile and meditative culinary process.
The event concluded with the debut of a series of 25 unique artworks by Morey and a poem, inspired by natural pigments and the menu, reflecting the symbiosis of art and nature explored during the dinner.
Held at Cafe Bravo in Berlin’s KW Institute for Contemporary Art, The Dissolving Palette was a profound reflection on creativity, collaboration, and the role of nature in artistic and culinary practices.

*** edition available with Topical Ventures
+++ photo credits Lexi Sum