Hanakam & Schuller
Mobile
10 Feb 2017 - 04 Mar 2018
HANAKAM & SCHULLER
Mobile
3 February – 4 March 2017
Ultimately he was immersed in all things with such a sharp mind and invented apparatuses by means of which it was easily possible to cross rivers where there were no bridges or boats available, or he invented ciphers that were impossible to understand without an instrument built by him.
Gian Paolo Lomazzoonr Giuseppe Arcimboldo, from “Idea del Tempio della Pittura“, Cap. 38, Milan 1590
When Giuseppe Arcimboldo served the Habsburgs in the seventies oft he 16th century, he created scores of designs for court festivities, replete with costumes and lavishly adorned sleighs. The original function of these richly adorned sleighs that were used as a means of transport can hardly be recognized, given the allegorical expressions of themes popular in court life (mythological figures, allegories of elements, changing seasons.) The medium becomes the message (in the sense of Marshall McLuhan). Designs of such strange objects show allegories of power, they illustrate how the environment and society can be ruled, while providing diversion for the exclusive class. By the same token, contemporary devices are also a reflection of prosperity and knowledge, creating their own pictorial conventions and channels and generating so-called filter bubbles.
Markus Hanakam & Roswitha Schuller draw on the Baroque technique of using sculptural allegory for representational purposes to produce various allegorical objects of their own by means of a contemporary medium – the Liquid Crystal Display (LCK). These displays are supported by abstract sleigh models made of bentwood. The narrative adornment of the sleigh is transferred here from the original sculptural representation to the moving image.
In the pieces by Hanakam & Schuller, the device is a recurring motif. That is to say, all that apparatus that is used to render optical imagery and also generate their specific formats, to control or trigger images or even manipulate them. The device – or gadget – is a type of artifact, a functional object that is charged with both everyday and mystical meaning.
In the eponymous digital photo series Device various exemplary optical devices are presented. Their usage und function remains imaginary and they could also be elements of a (future) film. Using these artifacts proves to be a kind of fetish, a surplus of interaction. As sculptors, Hanakam & Schuller explore the potential of these technological artifacts and displays as a manifestation of the latest technology and an aspect of collective life.
A projection in the space shows Hanakam & Schuller’s most recent video piece Mobile. Two hands move one object after the other into focus, creating an endless sequence of object chains. In his allegorical reference toa a kind of Jacob’s ladder of the media, the video in the loop becomes a sort of perpetuum mobile. The mobile can also be understood as a mobile. The mobile device allows data to flow and data to be exchanged. The accompanying voice over with a computer-simulated voice reproduces several tracks from Tree of Technologies of the classic computer game Civilization that was released again in 2016, revealing the absurdity of the strictly linear development of technology and culture, as illustrated here by the game.
Following the solo show Cosmic Cathedral (Galerie im Parterre, 2016) and the group exhibitions AiR 2013 – 14 (2015) und AiR Ungarn 2011-2012, (2012) at Krinzinger Projekte, Markus Hanakam & Roswitha Schuller are presenting Mobile in their second solo exhibition at Galerie Krinzinger.
Markus Hanakam was born 1979 in Essen, Germany
Mobile
3 February – 4 March 2017
Ultimately he was immersed in all things with such a sharp mind and invented apparatuses by means of which it was easily possible to cross rivers where there were no bridges or boats available, or he invented ciphers that were impossible to understand without an instrument built by him.
Gian Paolo Lomazzoonr Giuseppe Arcimboldo, from “Idea del Tempio della Pittura“, Cap. 38, Milan 1590
When Giuseppe Arcimboldo served the Habsburgs in the seventies oft he 16th century, he created scores of designs for court festivities, replete with costumes and lavishly adorned sleighs. The original function of these richly adorned sleighs that were used as a means of transport can hardly be recognized, given the allegorical expressions of themes popular in court life (mythological figures, allegories of elements, changing seasons.) The medium becomes the message (in the sense of Marshall McLuhan). Designs of such strange objects show allegories of power, they illustrate how the environment and society can be ruled, while providing diversion for the exclusive class. By the same token, contemporary devices are also a reflection of prosperity and knowledge, creating their own pictorial conventions and channels and generating so-called filter bubbles.
Markus Hanakam & Roswitha Schuller draw on the Baroque technique of using sculptural allegory for representational purposes to produce various allegorical objects of their own by means of a contemporary medium – the Liquid Crystal Display (LCK). These displays are supported by abstract sleigh models made of bentwood. The narrative adornment of the sleigh is transferred here from the original sculptural representation to the moving image.
In the pieces by Hanakam & Schuller, the device is a recurring motif. That is to say, all that apparatus that is used to render optical imagery and also generate their specific formats, to control or trigger images or even manipulate them. The device – or gadget – is a type of artifact, a functional object that is charged with both everyday and mystical meaning.
In the eponymous digital photo series Device various exemplary optical devices are presented. Their usage und function remains imaginary and they could also be elements of a (future) film. Using these artifacts proves to be a kind of fetish, a surplus of interaction. As sculptors, Hanakam & Schuller explore the potential of these technological artifacts and displays as a manifestation of the latest technology and an aspect of collective life.
A projection in the space shows Hanakam & Schuller’s most recent video piece Mobile. Two hands move one object after the other into focus, creating an endless sequence of object chains. In his allegorical reference toa a kind of Jacob’s ladder of the media, the video in the loop becomes a sort of perpetuum mobile. The mobile can also be understood as a mobile. The mobile device allows data to flow and data to be exchanged. The accompanying voice over with a computer-simulated voice reproduces several tracks from Tree of Technologies of the classic computer game Civilization that was released again in 2016, revealing the absurdity of the strictly linear development of technology and culture, as illustrated here by the game.
Following the solo show Cosmic Cathedral (Galerie im Parterre, 2016) and the group exhibitions AiR 2013 – 14 (2015) und AiR Ungarn 2011-2012, (2012) at Krinzinger Projekte, Markus Hanakam & Roswitha Schuller are presenting Mobile in their second solo exhibition at Galerie Krinzinger.
Markus Hanakam was born 1979 in Essen, Germany