STRANGER DAYS at Lisa Kandlhofer

Artists: Malte Bruns, Benedikt Hipp, Lindsay Lawson, Pascual Sisto, Julia Weißenberg

Exhibition title: STRANGER DAYS

Curated by: Jürgen Dehm

Venue: Lisa Kandlhofer, Vienna, Austria

Date: February 17 – March 19, 2017

Photography: Oskar Schmidt, all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Lisa Kandlhofer

The exhibition STRANGER DAYS is dedicated to the perceptual dispositions in a world that has become porous, where technology has developed a life of its own, images can only be read as vague representations of the factual or phantasmagorical phenomena, and where statements have no longer one distinct reading.
Oddly malformed and disfigured shapes appear within this world. Some bustle about on the canvas in between picturesque gestures, others could have been created digitally. Or are they even the creation of a mad scientist?

Five international artists, all of whom grew up with digital media, are approaching the human sensory system in STRANGER DAYS in different ways.
Fascinating scenarios of the posthumanist condition in the medium of painting are juxtaposed with video works about utopian city designs or large projection of amalgamations of humans and technology.

Digital effects, commonly used to enhance a performance or choreography become a trigger as well as a carrier of the aesthetic experience. And also the traditional art historical genre of the still life receives a contemporary update in this exhibition.

At a first glance, the settings of the videos and photographs of the Düsseldorf artist MALTE BRUNS seem to have emerged from the design laboratories of the old Hollywood. But his creatures do not undergo an active extension of the body by way of technological innovation. With their stoic, repetitive movements they emphasize that in their case technological innovation has already transitioned into a state of self-sufficiency, and beyond the human.

BENEDIKT HIPP, who lives in Amsterdam and Munich, suggests a “Vacation from Human“. His works reference to scientific theories and philosophical concepts as well as to cartoons and science fiction movies; furthermore, they reflect upon the traditional conceptions of the human being. Here the double line of sight of his “Pair of eyes, (votive transformation) 2016” represents the retrospective as well as simultaneously prognostic perspective he discloses in his paintings and sculptures.

The virtual arrangements in LINDSAY LAWSON’s “Still Lives” are based on 3D models of the disparate objects depicted. By way of the seemingly dim lighting, reflections and superimpositions their outlines become blurred, occasionally they seem to merge with their background. These prints are a continuation of a previous series called “The Inner Lives of Objects”, where the artist had cast various objects into resin and plaster to create solid caseshaped forms. Although in “Still Lives” factual objects are no longer present, their virtually generated manifestations still evoke certain histories of use and implications.

In his work “Bells & Whistles“, the Spanish artist PASCUAL SISTO turns the props into the subject matter. The installation consists of two animations and synchronized light- and sound effects and generates a digital choreography which would normally be used to reinforce a higher content. A spotlight travels through the space, effects familiar from cartoons and animations like poofs of smoke or swooshes dance across the walls and the floor. The recipient finds her-/himself within an interplay of theatrical multimedia effects that constitute the actual subject of the work while sometimes allow her/him to become its protagonist.

The subject of the recent works of JULIA WEISSENBERG is urban planning design. “Imaginary city” shows the time-consuming creation of a sand mandala, which components were taken from 3D visualizations of architectural planning.
In “To make you feel comfortable“, New Songdo, a smart city close to Seoul in South Korea, constitutes the setting for a futuristic narrative. Technology applied to all aspects of life is used to insure the most efficient utilisation of energy resources. Simultaneously the same technology is used for the purpose of keeping the residents of the city under surveillance.

-Susanna Fahle