Florian Germann
dal 17/11/2011 al 14/1/2012
Segnalato da
17/11/2011
Florian Germann
Migros Museum, Zurich
The Poltergeist Experimental Group (PEG) Applied Spirituality and Physical Spirit Manifestation. In his wide-ranging cycles of works, each of which is devoted to a unifying thematic narrative, the Swiss artist creates complex systems of reference, playing with the role of the artist-researcher. As points of departure for these individual experimental arrangements, Germann uses characters from history such as Napoleon or motifs from myth and fantasy such as lycanthropy, which he subjects to a revisionary rewriting, interweaving factual and fictional aspects.
curated by Raphael Gygax
In his wide-ranging cycles of works, each of which is devoted to a unifying thematic narrative, the Swiss artist Florian Germann (b. 1978; lives and works in Zurich) creates complex systems of reference, playing with the role of the artist-researcher. As points of departure for these individual experimental arrangements, Germann uses characters from history such as Napoleon or motifs from myth and fantasy such as lycanthropy (from the Greek lukos, "wolf," and anthropos, "man": the werewolf motif), which he subjects to a revisionary rewriting, interweaving factual and fictional aspects. For his first solo exhibition at an institution, Germann creates an extensive new cycle of works; to be on public display for the first time at the migros museum für gegenwartskunst, it is based on his study of apparitions and their physical substance, the so-called ectoplasm.
Florian Germann's new cycle of works "The Poltergeist Experimental Group (PEG) Applied Spirituality and Physical Spirit Manifestation" examines the phenomena of the Poltergeist and ectoplasm. Germann: ―Ectoplasm is a synaesthetic material. It responds to physical moods. That struck me as an interesting point of departure for the creation of bodies that would respond physically to their environments. Ectoplasm, of course, appears in the movie "Ghostbusters"" (1984), where it plays a leading role; but in parapsychology more generally, it is an important 'material of study.' It can also be found in cell biology, where it displays the same characteristics: there too it is a material that changes depending on its environment."
In addition to his interest in literary, filmic, and historical, but also scientific figures, motifs, and fields of knowledge he takes up in his sculptural arrangements, the transformation of energies can be described as a leitmotif of Germann's oeuvre. That is apparent not only on the narrative and meta- levels, but also in the tactile qualities of his works. Germann's objects and sculptures - which are often made of metals such as brass or silver - frequently undergo processes (of activation) in the form of "actions" evident to the beholder only in the traces they have left in the objects. The works to be shown at the migros museum für gegenwartskunst will likewise be "activated" a few days before the exhibition opens, in an event that will be closed to the public. Germann's cycles of works are moreover always situated amid the tensions between art and the sciences, where fact and fiction blend. Yet rather than creating linear narratives, he builds narrative structures we may describe as extended in two dimensions and even circular. Germann accordingly describes his method as follows: "What I do conforms not to any classical scientific approach but instead to an intuitive one. The driving force behind my projects is the question: why is something the way it is, and not a different way? My work is also process-oriented and additive. I begin at some point and then proceed from that point to the next. Ultimately, something like an individual circuit configuration emerges, not unlike an electric circuit, that generates the spiritual energies between the individual components. But when I begin work on something, I do not yet know where it is going to go and what this circuit configuration will look like."
JRP|Ringier will publish a monograph on Florian Germann's work featuring essays by Alexandra Blättler and Raphael Gygax as well as a conversation with the artist. The book's publication will coincide with the closing of the exhibition.
Press: For visual material and further information please contact: Raphael Gygax T. +41 44 2772050 F. +41 44 2776286 presse@migrosmuseum.ch
Opening: 18 November 2011 - 18:00
Migros Museum
Albisriederstrasse 199A CH-8047 Zürich
Opening hours
Tue, Wed, Fri 12 – 6 pm
Thu 12 – 8 pm
Sat, Sun 11 am – 5 pm
Admission
Adults: SFR 8
Reduced: SFR 4
Free entry for children and students under 16.
Thursday 5 - 8 pm free admission.