Artist Creates Dazzling Portrait By Layering Shattered Glass

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Nestled in Basel’s De-Wette Park is something unexpected: several panes of glass, each shattered and irregularly stacked against a transport rack. Titled Morphogenesis, the installation is the latest from Swiss artist Simon Berger, who, for years, has manipulated glass through breaking, cracking, and hammering to produce dazzling and ephemeral portraits. Morphogenesis is no exception, and, as the artist himself says, marks a “new chapter in my exploration of glass as a medium.”

Like much of Berger’s work, the magic of Morphogenesis involves movement. At one moment, the sculpture betrays very little, simply catching the sunlight or reflecting the trees, sky, and buildings around it. At another moment, a woman’s face peers through the glass, etched into the surface through Berger’s meticulous hammering. Depending on distance, Berger explains, the portrait either “emerges clearly or dissolves,” insisting that its viewers engage with it from multiple angles and vantage points. This sense of fluidity is also highlighted by the installation’s title, Morphogenesis, which comes from the Greek words for “form” and “creation.”

“It’s a reference to the physical act of shaping new, organic forms through impact,” Berger writes of the artwork. “Through this piece, I wanted to challenge not only the limits of the material, but also the way we perceive form, emotion, and context.”

Functionality comes into play as well. Morphogenesis incorporates two materials often associated with industry, including glass and a transport rack, and reimagines them into “expressive tools,” per Berger. And, while such industrial elements typically imply a level of control, here they’ve submitted to chance. After all, to crack glass is to accept that not every stroke will be perfect.

“Human faces have always fascinated me,” Berger says of his subject matter. “On safety glass, they come into their own and magically attract the viewer. It’s a process of discovery from abstract fogging to figurative perception.”

The faces in Berger’s glasswork emerge quietly, slowly, as if haunting the surfaces in which they were carved. That delicacy presents a fascinating juxtaposition to the vigor and energy required to break glass in the first place.

“Destruction shapes into a form of drawing while the break becomes the mark,” Berger adds, in reference to Morphogenesis. “In this way, the work resists fixed meaning—rather, it lives in flux, redefined continually by light, context, and time.”

To learn more about the artist, visit Simon Berger’s website and follow him on Instagram.