Artist: Susi Gelb
Exhibition title: user-defined Landscape
Venue: Nir Altman, Munich, Germany
Date: May 28 – August 1, 2020
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Nir Altman, Munich
Terraforming refers to a process of modifying other planets in such a way that their atmosphere becomes similar to that of Earth, making them habitable by human beings. This idea, originally developed in the context of science fiction, has recently become increasingly popular in Silicon Valley. In times of climate change and talk of the Anthropocene era, people are reaching for extreme manmade solutions in the midst of overwhelming manmade problems: While on Earth, entire ecosystems are becoming more and more unstable and technical equipment is increasingly called upon to compensate for depleted natural resources (using up more resources in the process), the human ability to influence the environment and the atmosphere is being cast in a positive light and reimagined for the unspoiled scenery of another planet. Although ecosystems are at the heart of this thinking, it comes from an elevated perspective, from exterior control and creation, rather than from the vantage point of those who are integrated in these systems and understand that they need to be economical with available resources.
In Susi Gelb’s exhibition User-defined Landscape, this notion of terraforming is an at times implicit, at times explicit point of reference. Virtually all the works engage with – in one way or another – the principle of the atmospheric and the mechanism of immersion: A central light column perpetually changes colour temperature, putting the entire space and everything in it through different moods. The video of a waterfall, running on a hologram rotor, appears to be floating in the air without a frame, without a border, fraying into the surrounding space, seemingly immaterial.
Then again, there are other works that seem to take a step in the opposite direction. Precarious, their status uncertain, their appearance opaque, they are marked by fissures and cracks. They work with an upending, contorting and interleaving of opposites: In aquarium-like sculptures, rocks appear to be floating, bringing to mind miniature landscapes or planets; with torn-open, pedestal-like resin casts, the distinction between inside and outside becomes as brittle as that between work and display, and not least of all, there are fragments whose origin is difficult to grasp at first, which appear equally organic and technical, resembling rubble or clods of dried-out soil. In either case, the principle of terraforming is taken up here not just by way of immersion; it is also depicted. And this establishes a distance, literally a rupture: the dry, cracked earth versus the bubbling water; the closed system of a vortex driven by a mixer.
Art as well, speaking very generally, is a form of creating worlds. And an exhibition is always a “user-defined landscape” that is determined as much by the artist as by the viewing public. Yet, art – at least in its manifestation as so-called contemporary art – is also an act of reflective questioning and of putting oneself at a distance conceptually; it means breaking with the created atmosphere. Susi Gelb’s works move precisely in this tension: between plunging in and shaking off the water. Lines blur and are drawn again. Going in headlong, then taking a step back. Here, complete immersion, there, the very idea is being countered. After all, there is never an unbroken unity to all that is. There is always a crack that runs through. Through this world – our world – and the next.
Dominikus Müller
(Translation: Kennedy-Unglaub Translations)
Susi Gelb, user-defined Landscape, 2020, exhibition view, Nir Altman, Munich
Susi Gelb, user-defined Landscape, 2020, exhibition view, Nir Altman, Munich
Susi Gelb, user-defined Landscape, 2020, exhibition view, Nir Altman, Munich
Susi Gelb, user-defined Landscape, 2020, exhibition view, Nir Altman, Munich
Susi Gelb, user-defined Landscape, 2020, exhibition view, Nir Altman, Munich
Susi Gelb, user-defined Landscape, 2020, exhibition view, Nir Altman, Munich
Susi Gelb, user-defined Landscape, 2020, exhibition view, Nir Altman, Munich
Susi Gelb, user-defined Landscape, 2020, exhibition view, Nir Altman, Munich
Susi Gelb, user-defined Landscape, 2020, exhibition view, Nir Altman, Munich
Susi Gelb, Chemical_Mineral Evidence 3, 2020, sand, epoxy resin, acryl, pigments, plastic sheet, steel, 87x40x27 cm
Susi Gelb, Chemical_Mineral Evidence 3, 2020, sand, epoxy resin, acryl, pigments, plastic sheet, steel, 87x40x27 cm
Susi Gelb, Chemical_Mineral Evidence 3, 2020, sand, epoxy resin, acryl, pigments, plastic sheet, steel, 87x40x27 cm
Susi Gelb, Chemical_Mineral Evidence 3, 2020, sand, epoxy resin, acryl, pigments, plastic sheet, steel, 87x40x27 cm
Susi Gelb, Chemical_Mineral Evidence 4, 2020, sand, epoxy resin, acryl, pigments, 42x38x6 cm
Susi Gelb, Chemical_Mineral Evidence 5, 2020, sand, epoxy resin, acryl, pigments, 43x34x15 cm
Susi Gelb, Chemical_Mineral Evidence 6, 2020, sand, epoxy resin, acryl, pigments, 42x31x11 cm
Susi Gelb, Fluidity Device 03, 2019, hologram video ventilator, Ø 56 cm, 10cm
Susi Gelb, loop dripper (AY 2020), 2020, lamp, plastic tank, water, colorant, pump, tubes, programming, cable, ca. 80x33x33 cm
Susi Gelb, loop dripper (AY 2020), 2020, lamp, plastic tank, water, colorant, pump, tubes, programming, cable, ca. 80x33x33 cm
Susi Gelb, loop dripper (AY 2020), 2020, lamp, plastic tank, water, colorant, pump, tubes, programming, cable, ca. 80x33x33 cm
Susi Gelb, Monolith Compound 2, 2018, polyester resin, faux fur, aerated concrete, pigments, glass fibre, 92x34x27,5 cm
Susi Gelb, Monolith Compound 2, 2018, polyester resin, faux fur, aerated concrete, pigments, glass fibre, 92x34x27,5 cm
Susi Gelb, New Temperature, 2020, heavy-duty prop, controlled white LED light (Barthelme), cable, programming, ca. 337x22x22 cm
Susi Gelb, New Temperature, 2020, heavy-duty prop, controlled white LED light (Barthelme), cable, programming, ca. 337x22x22 cm
Susi Gelb, no-good 2020 CE battery, 2020, fake chinese cabbage, mosquito killer lamp, sand, epoxy resin, wire, 10,5x20x28 cm
Susi Gelb, Pending Evidence 3, 2020, sand, acryl, pigments, epoxy resin, stones, mini ventilator, timer, 60x18x42 cm
Susi Gelb, upstream (t) No. 60 (detail), 2018, polyester resin, pigments, glass fibre, aerated concrete, luminescent pigments, 65x21x21,5 cm
Susi Gelb, Polar Vortex, 2020, 2-channel video, loop, 7.09 min
Susi Gelb, Polar Vortex, 2020, 2-channel video, loop, 7.09 min
Susi Gelb, upstream (t) No. 60 (detail), 2018, polyester resin, pigments, glass fibre, aerated concrete, luminescent pigments, 65x21x21,5 cm
Susi Gelb, user-defined landscape No.25, 2020, laser engraving, fluorescent plexiglass, 59,5×44,5 cm
Susi Gelb, user-defined landscape No.26, 2020, laser engraving, fluorescent plexiglass, 59,5×44,5 cm
Susi Gelb, user-defined landscape No.27, 2020, laser engraving, fluorescent plexiglass, 59,5×44,5 cm
Susi Gelb, user-defined landscape No.28, 2020, laser engraving, fluorescent plexiglass, 59,5×44,5 cm
Susi Gelb, user-defined landscape No.29, 2020, laser engraving, fluorescent plexiglass, 59,5×44,5 cm
Susi Gelb, user-defined landscape No.30, 2020, laser engraving, fluorescent plexiglass, 59,5×44,5 cm
Susi Gelb, Chemical_Mineral Evidence 5, 2020, sand, epoxy resin, acryl, pigments, 43x34x15 cm
Susi Gelb, user-defined Landscape, 2020, exhibition view, Nir Altman, Munich
