URBAN WIND > AAA
For the 2010-2011 season, Galerie Action Art Actuel (AAA) is presenting Ondes : immanence et matérialité, a series of five exhibitions developed by curator Eric Mattson. Mattson’s overall proposal addresses sonic, visual, kinetic and spatial dimensions in art through a program of immersive spaces that are unique and surprising.
In the second exhibition of the series, AAA invites you to discover Urban Wind, an installation by internationally renowned artist Herman Kolgen.
Urban Wind presents a single artwork deployed in two simultaneous spaces, one indoors and the other outdoors. Sensors, placed at a strategic location in the city, measure the wind velocity and direction. The data is collected and electronically transmitted to a series of accordions suspended in the gallery space. The instruments transform the data into a live visual and musical performance that is in tune with the meteorological conditions of the day.
Through the inventive use of computer programming, Urban Wind becomes an apparatus that couples the gallery space and the outside world. This idea throws open the possibility of imagining various other relationships within the work. The natural, intangible phenomenon of wind is contrasted with a mechanical sculpture anchored to the architecture of the gallery. A systematic accumulation of calculations that measure the wind’s properties is translated into an affecting musical scale. Harmonizing distinct materials and highlighting complementary concepts are at the core of Kolgen’s artistic process.
Looking over his multidisciplinary practice, one can imagine a multi-faceted personality: Kolgen is a computer whiz always on the lookout for the latest technology, a musician and a composer, a philosopher, a traveler. All in all, an artist who is curious about and inspired by the world around him. Yet rather than using art and technology to explain away his subjects and reduce them to mere illustrations of concepts, Kolgen offers us a images open to interpretation. For example, the accordions that capture the wind could be reminiscent of Benjamin Franklin’s famous experiment, where the scientist held up a kite in the middle of a thunderstorm until lighting struck. Or, when encountering the Urban Wind’s visual and sonic landscape there is an affect that could resemble works of art in the sublime tradition: representations of nature’s magnitude that can cause a sense of awe and silence. The experience Urban Wind fosters an imaginative process that gives viewer a lasting impression.
It is the ambitiousness of his projects and the innovativeness of his process that make Herman Kolgen such a remarkable contemporary artist.
From November 11th to December 18th, you are cordially invited to join us at the gallery for the North American premiere of Urban Wind.
