We are excited to be part of Frieze London 2026, presenting a solo booth by Josefine Reisch. After visiting the Imperial War Museum in 2019, Josefine Reisch, who was still living in London at the time, decided to create a life-sized craft sheet of a specific exhibit: the Merlin V. An aircraft engine developed by Rolls-Royce which was of crucial importance in the Second World War. Josefine Reisch‘s monumental eponymous work serves as the centrepiece and artistic point of departure for the presentation. Drawing on her research and critical analysis, the exhibition booth is lined with silver, creating an aeronautic and dizzying background to her examination of iconography and aspiration. The scenery is in keeping with the engine as well as with a group of smaller paintings of objects associated with contemporary representations of economic and political power.
Following her works presented at Poxy Proxy earlier this year, Josefine continues to explore objects of global infrastructure as a symbol. Here, an euro palett is paired with the ancient game of Snakes and Ladders - a game governed not by strategy, but by fate. Through finding dychotomies such as the pairing of profane transport device and an ancient board game she envokes surrealist moments, and shifts familiar structures and objects into unexpected relationships.
A small sized craft sheet of a Tank watch by jeweller Cartier adds to Josefine Reisch‘s ongoing investigation of the relationship between luxury goods and lore. The Tank, with its distinctive designification of World War One‘s french tanks, is a popular item within the horophils.
