Newsletter #22 – Invitation

Diego Brambilla – Solo exhibition

Opening Thursday, 7 May 2026, 18:00

blackprint gallery

Zypressenstrasse 57, 8004 Zürich

Through 13 June 2026

blackprint gallery presents a solo exhibition bringing together the full body of work of Zurich-based artist Diego Brambilla: Out of Nothing, Structural Accidents, Off the Mark, Mingled with Voids, The Mind in the Cave, Ultraplanets, and Arbitrary Interventions — blackprint editions, video, and gelatin silver prints developed by the artist.

Structural Accidents

In Structural Accidents, Brambilla builds objects from polystyrene packaging and industrial debris, photographs them through a sequence of analog processes — push-processed silver gelatin negative, scan, inter-negative, final print on baryta paper — and dismantles them. What remains is a print of a sculpture that no longer exists in the form it was photographed, and which never existed as a stable object to begin with.

Gelatin silver prints. Edition of 1/1 + 1 AP, Zürich

Structural Accidents — text by Daniel Blochwitz [→]

Mingled with Voids

Mingled with Voids is made in total darkness. Each photograph captures a reflection produced with a handheld torch and a small mirror — an image that exists for a fraction of a second before vanishing. Motion blur is built into the process; so is sensory overload. The prints are developed in Caffenol, a formula based on coffee developed by the artist, which introduces a further layer of material unpredictability into the surface of the image. What emerges are blurred, disorienting silhouettes against dense grain — forms that read as simultaneously accidental and deliberate.

Gelatin silver prints, developed with Caffenol. Editions of 3 copies or unique variants + 1 AP, Zürich.

The Mind in the Cave – video

Ultraplanets

Ultraplanets is a fictional astronomical atlas constructed from NASA’s publicly available archive. The series takes the Mercator effect as its starting point: the map becomes so convincing that no one challenges it, even when what it represents has never been seen directly. Brambilla dissects and recombines these images to produce new imaginary worlds, then prints them using his own plant-based developers — Rooibos and Wineol — in place of conventional chemicals. The resulting prints carry the mark of their making: darkroom surfaces that signal their own fabrication.

Gelatin silver prints, developed with Rooibos and Wineol. Edition of 1/1 or 9 + 1 AP, Zürich

Arbitrary interventions on abandoned rocks

Brambilla introduces material into found rock formations and landscapes, photographs them, and removes them. The gesture blurs the boundary between natural and man-made without resolving it. The works are produced as blackprint editions: printed on handmade Bhutanese paper of 20 gsm and laminated between two panes of extra-clear glass, or held tensioned in open magnetic frames — each a unique variant.

blackprint editions. Unique Variant Works + 1 AP, Zürich

Off the Mark

Off the Mark was built through repetition. For four years, Brambilla returned obsessively to the same natural sites — not to document them, but to exhaust their familiarity until something else became visible: a shadow out of context, a branch at an unexpected angle, a shape that resisted its surroundings. The images that emerged from this process do not follow the conventions of landscape photography. They are populated by unusual forms, ironic combinations, and compositions that locate the strange within the ordinary.

The series is presented as a Karo Artist edition and accompanied by a self-published book of the same title, printed by Mikhail Bushkov.

11 Stations

The evening also marks the presentation of 11 Stations, a limited-edition artist book of 55 copies based on Structural Accidents, self-published by Brambilla and printed by Mikhail Bushkov — both members of the pool collective.

The sequencing of images and the choice of papers are determined by a rigorous mathematical structure.

Diego Brambilla – Solo exhibition

Opening 7 May 2026, 18:00

Through 13 June 2026

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 12h – 18h
Saturday: 12h – 16h, during the exhibition.

Visits welcome during opening hours or by appointment.

Collectors wishing to access the OVR are welcome to contact us.

Works © Diego Brambilla / blackprint editions © Diego Brambilla & blackprint / Photography of works © blackprint, 2025–2026