«I would like to see in slow motion.»
Roman Signer
We are pleased to show at Haus 2226 in Lustenau early photographs and Super 8 films by internationally renowned Swiss artist Roman Signer. The black-and-white images that are on view first as an ensemble in the German-speaking area represent central aspects of Signer's work and include familiar as well as surprising motifs.
Roman Signer (*1938, Appenzell, CH, lives in St.Gallen, CH) is one of Switzerland's most important contemporary artists. With his ephemeral actions, also called time «sculptures», which can be explosive but also quiet, he has been contributing significantly to the renewal of the sculptural since the 1970s.
About thirty years ago, Signer applied for a studio stay at Istituto Svizzero in Rome – unfortunately without success. His dossier included a selection of black-and-white photographs from the 1970s and 1980s, which the artist himself had shot for documentary purposes and which showed early sculptures in his studio or in the outer space. Some of the motifs have become iconic by now and have been shown many times, others are new discoveries. Among them are technical, very poetic or humorous arrangements. With requisites such as sand, umbrella, bucket or explosive devices that are typical of Signer today, the photographs show the inexhaustible, aesthetic and symbolic potential of everyday materials and processes that the artist keeps on exploring surprisingly to this day.