Michael Sailstorfer at Tick Tack

Artist: Michael Sailstorfer

Exhibition title: ELEKTROSEX

Venue: Tick Tack, Antwerp, Belgium

Date: March 1 – April 13, 2024

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Tick Tack, Antwerp

TICK TACK proudly invites you to experience ELEKTROSEX, a radical industrial installation by the celebrated German artist Michael Sailstorfer. The exhibition marks the artist’s first solo presentation in Belgium since his retrospective exhibition at the S.M.A.K. Ghent in 2011.

ELEKTROSEX reveals an unconventional and daring landscape that, through light, sound and smell, highlights the artist’s poetic and witty approach to everyday and industrial materials. Sailstorfer’s sculptural practice draws upon the kinetic, minimalist and pop traditions of the 1960s and 70s. He activates these influences by using contemporary objects, de-contextualizing and re-configuring them to trigger subtle yet transformative shifts in meaning.

ELEKTROSEX is at once solemn and darkly humorous, presenting works infused with a captivating and, at times, erotic tension that alludes to ideas of both destruction and transformation. The bold architectural integration merges various levels of TICK TACK’s brutalist exhibition space, challenging the viewer’s perception of orientation and scale.

The pounding sound of metal colliding with concrete, electric sparks dancing through the air, and the scent of burning rubber invite contemplation on our relationship with the environment, its resources, and the overlooked poetic beauty within.

Pacemakers beware!

Michael Sailstorfer (1979, DE) lives and works in Berlin. He holds an MA in Fine Arts from Goldsmiths, University of London. He garnered global recognition with exhibitions at prestigious institutions like Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Koenigmuseum and Bundeskunsthalle in Germany, Riga Biennale in Latvia, S.M.A.K. in Ghent, Swiss Institute in New York and Sharjah Biennial 8 in the UAE.

His works are included in esteemed public collections such as Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, Fondazione Morra Greco in Naples, MUSEION in Bolzano, Sammlung Boros and Sammlung Goetz in Germany, Vanhaerents Art Collection in Brussels, Belgium, Städel Museum in Frankfurt and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.