Last Saturday the first solo exhibition opened in Lisa Ruyter's lately opened art space ' . ' in Vienna. Herwig Weiser is mainly known for his sound sculptures and machines which he calls 'analog sculptural processes' such as 'Zgodlocator' , 'ZII' or 'Death Before Disko'. Weiser's filmworks 'show a natural talent in a medium ideally suited for Herwig Weiser's interest in the relationship of sound, image and his focus on decaying technologies being returned to material origins. They also reveal a bit more about his personal motivations than what is immediately clear from his intriguing machines.' [source: press release]
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| Guests at the opening interested in materials describing Weiser's work. (image by David Schulder) |
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| Super 8 projector with 'Untitled 1996/2011'. |
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| Super 8 projector to the left with 'Untitled 1995/2011' and to the right projection 'Untitled 1999/2011'. |
The exhibition features films previously shown in the context of film festivals, but as well unknown material from Weiser's vast personal archive of material filmed on super 8, 16 mm and video. The films are presented as projected images, as loops on super 8 projectors and as videos on TV screens. Moving through the exhibition, one can engage with each piece in a very private and singular way, yet the space is bound together by flickering lights of the projections and the sound created by film loops running in super 8 projectors. Please find a video by David Schulder at the bottom of this post to get an impression about the exhibition and the opening.
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| Installation with loops in two super 8 projectors, 'Untitled 1997 / 2011'. (image by David Schulder) |
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| Detail of 'Franz Speck' 1998. |
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| Detail of 'Lucid Phantom Messenger' 2011. |
The exhibition spans 15 years of Weiser's work, from early projects (e.g. Franz Speck, 1998 / 2011) to a film about his latest work 'Lucid Phantom Messenger' (2011). Weiser recently started to revisit his archive of (film)works and shows loops of unchanged, unedited super8 film as well as digitally edited materials from his archive. Weiser's films are a testimony of joyful technological experimentation and thereby seamlessly integrate into his process of creating his 'analog sculptural processes'. It is worth mentioning that many of the films in the exhibition were firstly shot in a time where digital technology (video) was overtaking analog film in popular culture. In these times, Weiser produced images which bear an almost digital aesthetic, appearing (for an observer in 2011) to be produced by algorithms rather than being super8 films altered by jogpads in a film editing studio (see for example works like 'Untitled (painting) 1998/2011').
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| Detail of 'Untitled (painting)' 1998/2011. |
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| Still from 'Did you ever steal a real McCarthy?' 1997/2011. (image by David Schulder) |
The moving images reveal a strong personal interest in the medium and an artistic production which is rather celebrating the process of creation itself than being concerned with the reception and presentation of the final product. The narratives and locations of the movies reveal an interest in immediate, strange and often dubious surroundings as well as a process of continuous artistic learning by doing. In some cases the films are shot in landscapes such as Germany's coal pits or construction sites and transport the transient character of environmental change.
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| To the left, 'Untitled 1995/2011' shot in a construction site, to the right 'Untitled 1993/2011' shot in an agricultural landscape in the Netherlands. (image by David Schulder) |
The exhibition is opened until 26th of February. Visit the homepage of ' . ' to find out more about opening times and future shows. Moreover there will be soon a post about a visit to the studio and ' . ' the art space of Lisa Ruyter.
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