Opening: Friday 23 May at 7 pm
Welcome: Dr Carola Brückner – District Councillor for Culture and Dr Ralf F. Hartmann – Artistic Director ZAK
Introduction: Dr Jens-Ole Rey – Curator
The starting point for the exhibition by Anna Werkmeister (* 1949) is ‘rain’ and its tonal quality, defined in colour and written down as ‘white noise’ in the eponymous story by the author Ferdinand von Schirach. Working primarily as a painter and sculptor since the 1980s, Werkmeister has been exploring the medium of film since 2001. In her videos, she documents natural phenomena and landscapes and transforms them into an art form beyond classical genres. Not infrequently, acoustic stimuli also serve as the starting point for an artistic approach using notations or digital media.
The experience and knowledge of nature – in this case the rain on Lake Lucerne, continuing in the grounds of the Neues Atelierhaus Panzerhalle – is first documented on film, from which a video is edited, from which stills are taken, which are then transferred as prints on paper into a spatial installation. A comprehensive media transfer takes place that explores all the aggregate states of ‘White Noise’. He thus delves into deeper layers of consciousness and transforms vague memories into abstract images. In the Projektraum of the ZAK – Centre for Contemporary Art, Anna Werkmeister translates the infinite cycle of rain into a multimedia installation that approaches the seemingly familiar in precise settings and makes it possible to experience it anew.
As an auditory sensation, in literature and in the exhibition space, ‘White Noise’ evokes diverse associations and also questions our perception of reality and time in its sequentiality and different focussing.
With the kind support of:
