On view a representative selection of works by the renowned Swiss video artist who lives in New York. 20 works on paper and a select cross-section of films and video installations are displayed that provide a look at the overall work of the author since 1976.
Works from 1976–2006
Alexander Hahn (born 1954) is one of the pioneers of new media. The Museum der Moderne Salzburg is showing a representative selection of works from the renowned Swiss video artist who lives in New York. Twenty works on paper and a select cross-section of films and video installations are being displayed that provide a look at the overall work of Alexander Hahn since 1976.
Since his early works, Hahn has focused intensively on colour, light and mood. A
strong connection to performance art can already be seen in his first films. He also
retains dramatic and narrative moments in his latest interactive works. Alexander
Hahn stringently develops the image flow of formal analogies and contextual
associations in such as way that he is able to keep the viewer in continuous tension
and expectation.
In the associative intermingling of art and science, Hahn mainly dedicates himself to
the phenomenon of perception and time in his creative processes. He indicates his
closeness to history with quotations from art and architectural history. Especially
typical of him and his work is a predilection for science fiction, whereby utopia and
nightmare encounter wit and irony.
Hahn's preoccupation with the past is given an important role in his thought-provoking
existentialist creations. In video installations like Séance (1997) and
5 Anamorphoses (2002), he ultimately deals with a deeper perception of life and its
brevity, with the question of seeing and imagining, of remembering and forgetting.
Something dreamlike runs throughout all the works of Alexander Hahn, interwoven
with moments that simultaneously appear utopian and archaic.
This exhibition was designed by Christoph Vögele for the Kunstmuseum Solothurn, and
adapted in smaller form for Salzburg by Toni Stooss and Tina Teufel.
Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg has published a richly illustrated catalogue for the exhibition
with texts by Konrad Bitterli, Christoph Vögele, Margit Zuckriegl, and others.
Museum der Moderne
Moenchsberg 32 - Salzburg