Carsten Nicolai
334m/s, 2007
Perspex tubes, gas, igniting mechanism, room installation, dimensions variable
Installation view at Hezi Cohen Gallery, Tel Aviv, 2014
Photo: Liat Elbling
Courtesy Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig/Berlin and the Pace Gallery
CARSTEN NICOLAI
frequenz
13 November - 27 December 2014
frequenz at Hezi Cohen Gallery, Tel Aviv presents three bodies of work which focus on the subject of sensing (German: ‘abtastung’).
334 m/s (2007) is a room installation, depicting the speed of sound (c = λ · ƒ), which is about 334 m/s (the speed of sound under normal conditions in the atmosphere). Two translucent tubes filled with propane gas are set on fire to cause a chain reaction. A flame burns from one side to the other, slowly accelerating to the point where it hits the end of the tube. Due to the ratio of the gas-Oxygen mix the flame causes a rapid explosion, which can be heard as a sonic boom.
future past perfect pt. 01 (sononda) (2010) is the first part of the short film series ‘future past perfect’, originally recorded in 2006. The series whose single fragments are planned to be a part of a larger scale film project are designed as a row of conceptually independent movies that document Nicolai’s focus of interest that year, each part builds on the insight gained from the previous work. sononda’s visual qualities may seem artificial, however, the work was shot in a natural environment. The focus is directed on the sculptural quality of light. The correspondence of music - with its low frequency modulations and merging soundscapes - as well as the light playing on the curved surfaces of the sculptural stone formations create together an ever-changing atmosphere of concrete and abstract appearances.
The series abtastung frequenz (2014) and abtastung wellenform (2014) are ‘photographs’ on which time-based processes were suspended in order to visualize them for human perception. Thereby the works are not photographs in the classical sense, but rather a sort of photogram or more specifically, a scanogram. Much like the photogram, the scanogram is the result of a direct sensing (‘abtastung’) of light impulses by the scanner, independent of a classical negative in the proper sense. The image is created by moving the scanner sensor and the light source simultaneously. Depending on this specific technique, unique images in the form of parabolic frequency lines and waves are visualized. A fundamental starting point for these works is studies and theories by László Moholy-Nagy and his experiments with light sources and photogram techniques. The works abtastung frequenz (2014) and abtastung wellenform (2014) can be understood as translations of these techniques into modern technologies, in which randomness and the technical specifications of the scanner play a decisive creative role.
Four works of the extensive series abtastung wellenform (2014) were selected and exposed to photo-technical processes. The series abtastung frequenz (2014) consists of twenty sensings - ‘abtastungen’ - that were exposed on a transparent photo-film. The large number of works in this series demonstrates the creative and playful possibilities of modern technologies when used as a creative tool.
Carsten Nicolai (b. 1965, Karl-Marx-Stadt, lives and works in Berlin) is one of the most prominent sound and multimedia artists active today. In his work, Nicolai uses electronic sound and visual art as a hybrid-tool to create his own microscopic view of creative processes. His work environment resembles a laboratory. Influenced by scientific reference systems, Nicolai often engages in mathematical patterns such as grids and codes, applying concepts such as error, randomization and self-organizing structures into his work.
Carsten Nicolai is represented by Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig/Berlin, the Pace Gallery and Galleria Lorcan O’Neill, Rome. This year, Nicolai presented the project α (alpha) pulse at Art Basel Hong Kong, which had been the central project commissioned by the fair. Other major international exhibitions include the ‘documenta X’ in Kassel (1997) and the 49th and 50th editions of the Venice Biennale (2001, 2003). Audiovisual performances by Nicolai (under the pseudonym ‘noto’) were held at the Pompidou Center, Paris (2008, 2006), Tate Modern, London (2006), the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York (2003), the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco (2001) and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2000).
Hezi Cohen Gallery
54 Wolfson Street
Tel Aviv 66042
Israel
T: +972 (0)36398788
Hezi Cohen Gallery
Read On... Hezi Cohen Gallery, Tel Aviv
