BROKEN—light shines through is an exhibition of lamps and chandeliers by design studio LABINAC. In the words of Jimmie Durham, “glass dances with light most magically.” In their first solo exhibition on light, LABINAC celebrates the serendipity of light coming from cracks and fissures. Consummate timelessness is accomplished through a reverence for natural shapes and details with hints of humor.

LABINAC was founded in 2018 by artists Maria Thereza Alves and Jimmie Durham alongside Kai-Morten Vollmer. Individually, Alves and Durham are widely-celebrated artists whose solo careers have spanned more than four decades. Since the beginning of their courtship, Durham fashioned jewelry for Alves. Creating objects outside of their formal art practices—such as works of art to furnish their home—has always been a facet of the spaces they share together. From this perspective, LABINAC is the natural evolution of an intimate partnership that has always brought art into daily life.

The works on view were undertaken individually. Alves collaborates with glass-blowers to manipulate the liquid material into the monumental flowing vases and lamps that make up her iconic Cloudstone series. Durham’s chandeliers on the other hand arrange scraps of materials collected in Murano, Berlin, and in other parts of Europe. Durham pairs rough-edged shards of colored glass with discarded treasures; glass rosettas, broken flowers, and other playful ornaments are assembled with iron wire like pithy shimmering poems. For this exhibition, artists Philip Modersohn, Elisa Strinna, and Jone Kvie exhibit alongside LABINAC. Modersohn developed a series of standing lamps for LABINAC that provide the centerpiece for the exhibition. Strinna contributes a porcelain hand-modeled table lamp.

At the entryway the video La V Rosé (2020) is projected onto the wall; it is a collaboration between Alves and Durham that was filmed spontaneously on an airplane, using nothing more than a plastic glass, rosé wine, and light. A worktable stands at the back of the exhibition space—a reminder of the artistic process, and a nod to the site of LABINAC’s studio residency, which transpired at Callie’s beginning in September 2019 and concludes with the exhibition.