take me to

The wall sculpture Cryptic Machine Prototype A (2018) by the artist Niko Abramidis &NE reflects his constant preoccupation with economic structures. The work is inspired by massive steel plates that New York construction workers use to quickly repair the metropolis' road damage. The hot-rolled steel surface, out of which which blue light emerges through meticulously cut openings, as well as an embedded pinpad and a screen, provide clues to its function as an ATM in which past and future time merge: the gloomy "machine" seems to come from an apocalyptic future in which the former functionality has disappeared and is no longer comprehensible. Carved emblems, such as Ω and ∑ above the slits give possible clues as to its purpose: the pinpad could activate the machine and the screen above it could show an image film of a long since insolvent bank. The engraved initials NE stand above it like a company logo and are at the same time the signature of the artist.

Cryptic Machine Prototype A was part of the exhibition "ars viva. MYST ECON" im Kai 10 Arthena Foundation, Düsseldorf in 2019. Abramidis &NE presented an installation reminiscent of office spaces in which the artist creates fictitious corporate identities and appropriates forms of expression from the financial economy. In a language game of signs, symbols and ciphers, he creates parallel universes in his art that draw a picture of our present.

Dylan's rendez-vous, 2019

At first glance, the relief-like wall work Dylan's rendez-vous (2019) by the French-Algerian artist Neïl Beloufa depicts an apparently ordinary beach scene. A colorfully striped bath towel lies spread out on the sand, while in the background rushing waves spill onto shore. Upon second glance, this supposed holiday paradise is spoiled: the outlines of objects  under the towel and the sand are clearly visible: crushed plastic bottles and a beverage can. Immediately they evoke images of heavily soiled beaches flooded with plastic and garbage, which quickly cloud the fantasy of a dream holiday. They are testimonies to the presence of people and our consumer behavior in a globalized world. Not only the consumption of goods is made apparent, also media consumption is a central theme in this work: Conspicuously embedded in the sand is a socket promising access to electricity and thus, in the digital age, the connection to media and permanent availability. As multi-layered and paradoxical as this may seem, Beloufa's art serves not only in the figurative sense of networking, but concretely as an invitation to actively connect mobile devices to the electric circuit. Beloufa, who often uses materials and techniques in his works that contain visible technological components, he juxtaposes the technical aspects with the bold colors of dyed MDF and the bright mustard yellow and pink of the leather, which nestles wonderfully against the structured wooden background and allows this technoid relief to shine.

Swedish artist Nina Canell (*1979 in Vaxjö, SE) explores the potential of hidden objects and materials meant for the useage of forwarding or saving knowledge and technological processes. Canell transforms sliced power- and fiber optic cables, unwound wire coils or exposed electrical wires into sculptural arrangements. Her interest in the contemporary advances of data transmission, the physical properties of data carriers themselves and their indiscernible internal processes is rooted in the questioning of memory and knowledge. Her conviction is that there is no mediation without loss, neither between solid objects nor living things. Her sculptural process reveals the hidden process of transmission, at the same time questioning the integrity of the object with synthetic and organic materials. Nina Canell exhibited in the Nordic Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017. In 2019 the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen and the Kunsthalle Baden-Baden both showed solo exhibitions of the artist.

“What interests me about language is that it creates or constructs reality, just as light makes it visible. Therein is a closeness that explains why both of them are often parallel or redundant and tautological in my work. By bringing them together, they make each other visible. Morse code is comprised of elementary forms: lines and dots, circles and rectangles, short and long. But it is also interesting that it contains precisely this binary system, which functions in different ways, as light signals, acoustic signals or graphic codes. It is a very minimal language, with which any complexity can still be represented. The information transfer takes place in the space between on and off, light and shadow."¹ - Brigitte Kowanz

The wall work f (2020) by the Austrian artist Brigitte Kowanz refers - like many of her works - to her longstanding involvement with the binary Morse code, which she uses as a formal element as well as a transmitter of a second level of meaning in her works. f forms part of the work group Reflections, in which the works - consisting of aluminum, reflective foil and a transparent varnish applied by the artist - emphasizing the painterly qualities of light. Light is not an element inherent to the pictures, but the reflective surface of the works are activated by parallel illumination. The works also have a participatory factor: the effect can be further intensified by lighting with the viewer's smartphone. The title of the work f refers to the letter F of the Morse code alphabet. Kowanz describes her interest in this code as follows: “In Morse code, there are the elementary forms: line and dot, circle and rectangle, short and long. But it is also interesting that it contains precisely this binary system, which functions in different ways, as light signals, acoustic signals or graphic codes.”¹

In VII -Hipótesis del equilibrio local- (2018), Mexican artist Gabriel Rico creates a light sculpture from an unusual combination of organic, technical and everyday materials: Natural sponge, a deer rib, a porcupine spine, handmade rope, a branch, neon, one glass Coke bottle, volcanic stone and a feather. The different components playfully merge into each other and create a circuit that seems to be connected by an electric cable. The glowing neon light stands in stark contrast to the finely crafted details made of natural materials. The construction is supported by a symbol of everyday capitalist consumption, the Coca-Cola bottle. The sculpture is part of the series Hipotesis del equilibrio local and refers to the hypothetical possibility of achieving a balance in the interaction of several components. Fascinated by physical laws and philosophical theses, Rico deconstructs various aspects of the everyday world in this series of works and reassembles them in a post-surrealistic approach. In this way, he brings the materials - without any obvious relationship to one another – of the sculpture into a balanced interplay.

In exhibitions, Stock Prop (2010) and Stock Prop Study C (2014) are installed directly to the wall, thus extending into the gallery space as an architectural intervention while remaining objects in themselves to be activated.

In the 1960s, Sonnier started to reflect the conventional understanding of sculpture through an unconventional selection and combination of materials - such as neon, latex, wire, satin, cheese cloth and flocking. Novel connections, relationship to the human body, the environment and their arrangement and combination form the basis of Sonnier's early works and a practice that he continues to develop. In the Stock Prop series, the artist opens his sculptural work into the performative space, going beyond the space of meaning of the material. 

Photo: Dirk Tacke

The US American artist Keith Sonnier (*1941 in Mamou, Louisiana, US) rose to prominence in the 1960s with works that broadened the traditional understanding of sculpture and used everyday materials such as neon tubes, latex, foam or found industrial materials. He belongs to the generation of post-minimalists that includes Gary Kuehn, Eva Hesse, Robert Morris and Richard Serra, and is one of the first and most important artists to discover light as an independent medium. Through his continuous experimentation he creates sculptures and room installations with directly or indirectly illuminated elements. Keith Sonnier was part of the iconic exhibitions "Live in Your Head: When Attitudes Become Form" at the Kunsthalle Bern, 1969 and "Eccentric Abstraction" at the Fischbach Gallery in New York, 1966. In 2018, the Parrish Art Museum and the New Orleans Museum of Art presented comprehensive retrospectives of the artist.

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Photo: Caterina Verde