About
Intruders, 2022
Curated by Hannah Stippl
During my time on earth
I have seen many things.
I have seen oaks grow
and tulips blossom
grass weave in the wind
and birds fly up high
I have seen stones glow
hot with earth’s rage
flowing like rivers
never to be cooled
(…)
When I wrote the the lyrics for “During my Time on Earth” I wanted to explore the idea of a timeless being that has been witnessing the events on earth during the last million of years. Taking on this view of an objective outsider enabled me to view history and life from a neutral perspective, rather than being involved in it as a subjective life form.
My text reflects upon the slow processes behind evolution and politics, life from outer space and how change can be driven through the introduction of foreign bodies into static ecosystems. We see a field of ruins, dipped into the flashing reds of flickering leds.
Corals, concrete stalagmites and controllers…a voice coming out of the black void. We don’t know what happened in this space, we are about to find out. We are spectators, searchers, explorers in a world full of mystery and myth.
My solo show “Intruders” is an allegory to the age of the anthropocene, the passing of time and the complex socio-organic processes, taking place on earth. It is about slow growth, sense-making and finding truth in everyday life. It combines drawings on paper with fantastic sculptures and a multimedia video-game installation. In an almost apocalyptic scenario computer parts, sensors and electronic devices become part of a stage-design-like setting, overshadowed by the looping record of a poem. The poem worked as an anchor point for the conception of the installation and the idea of the outside-spectator like an idée fixe. I started drawing a series of comic-like scenarios, each depicting a fictive scene from a forest being invaded by mysterious structure, overgrown by plants, weeds and moss – totally assimilated by local flora. I imagined myths forming around those invaders, stories being written about them and slowly fusing with the vocabulary of local folklore. Also the landscapes in my video-games are made up from 3D-models and 3D-scans. They become inner landscapes, timeless realms of fantasy that let the spectator search for its boundaries, explore its rules and natural forces.
In a 10-minute loop the virtual cameras in my games show different perspectives of these virtual scenarios and while the viewer can manipulate certain objects of interest with the help of joysticks, a pre-arranged timeline of events takes place: Every time the camera angle changes, the set of lights in the room switches to a different setting, a fan is spinning faster or slower or a voice starts talking.
Intruders (the title and the show as well) tells a story of human myths, colliding with the digital era and a fascination for extraterrestrial life-forms. In the realm of human language and every day speech, being an invasive species is regarded as something negative. Also in the field of biology, invasion is a rather difficult topic. Neophytes invade areas, or whole continents, with he help of globalised transport; spreading their seeds uncontrollably from one continent to the other. Evolution is a non-linear process, in which good and evil simply do not exist. The universe is not judging the moral aspects of the spreading of life. Thus humanity finds itself in a moral dilemma: Isn’t it also invasive? On earth and now in the solar system?
Humans bring chaos to the balance, they introduce new factors into the equation. They destroy ecosystems to bend nature according to their will. I am torn apart between the pro and contra of exploration and preservation of space. I therefore see my show “Intruders” as an artistic way to express my process of reflection.e 8th district of Vienna.
Funded by the 8th district of Vienna
