Kurt Hentschläger
New York based Austrian artist Kurt Hentschläger creates media installations and performances for both physical and virtual venues.
Hentschläger’s works have characteristically been visceral and immersive, as in ZEE, FEED & more recently in SOL, SUB and EKO, and are known for their perceptual effects. They challenge an audience psychologically but also offer a meditative respite from the day-to-day stress of digitally enhanced life. His representational body of work, including MEASURE and ORT, suggests a semi-synthetic form of nature that serves as a metaphor for our life in the Anthropocene.
Hentschläger’s work practice embraces experiment and interdisciplinary approach, most prominently displayed in his ephemeral audiovisual environments and live shows in between fine arts, music and theater.
Between 1992 and 2003 he collaborated in the groundbreaking media art duo GRANULAR=SYNTHESIS, known for emotionally intense works, developing amongst others what is now often referred to as immersive art.
Selected presentations include the Venice Biennial, the Venice Theater Biennial, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, PS1 New York, MAC - Musée d'Art Contemporain Montreal, MAK – Museum of Applied Arts Vienna, ZKM – Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, National Art Museum of China Beijing, National Museum for Contemporary Art Seoul, ICC Tokyo, Arte Alameda Mexico City, MONA – Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Sharjah Art, UAE, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, The Momentary, Bentonville.
From 2013-2018 he taught as a Full Time Visiting Artist at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
SUB
SUB is the second composition for a blackout space, after SOL, 2017.
The absolute darkness of SUB is broken, in intervals and for parts of seconds only, by bursts of animated light. Returning back into darkness, ghostly retinal after-images will linger, slowly shifting and fading until the next moment of light.
The ambient sound-scape of SUB both accentuates the moments of light as well as continuously informs and sustains the installation.
Before entering, all phones and watches, photographic-, or light emitting devices need to be left behind with staff. This is to prevent light pollution in the installation. As well, posting to social media, taking selfies, or texting are temporarily put on hold.
SUB has no beginning or end, feel free to stay as long as you so desire. Depending on one's position in space, visual and sonic impressions will vary substantially. Moving closer to the light source will exponentially increase the intensity of the after images.
Please take your time on the way in. Once inside please wait for light flashes to orient and then take your next steps.
