About the exhibition

“Quantum fluctuation, also called vacuum fluctuation, refers to the ability of space to generate particles and their antiparticles seemingly out of nothing. The basis for this quantum mechanical possibility of particle generation is the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.”
(Dr. Hannelore Dittmar-Ilgen in: Helpster)

“On the other hand, I always like to play with different ideas, contents, irritations and ambivalence in my exhibitions. But these have to be precisely placed in order to work and have the full effect. In art, you can allow yourself to be irritating rather than unambiguous.”  (Gerwald Rockenschaub in: Weltkunst 2023)

For nearly four decades, multimedia artist Gerwald Rockenschaub, who was born in Linz in 1952, has been ranked among the most preeminent Austrian proponents of contemporary art. His oeuvre has consistently been characterized by the principle of reduction to a few, essential elements, structures, and color contrasts. The works of this radical Minimalist are simple, nonnarrative, and multifaceted. With each new series and each new exhibition, Rockenschaub challenges our customary viewing habits, not to mention the way in which we physically move through the room in question and how we act when in them. Sparingly implemented interventions into existing architecture expose the relationship between viewer, artwork, and space – and invert it. Rockenschaub, who has also been working as a DJ and musician since the late 1980s, has been developing the dramaturgy for his exhibitions with the aid of computers for years and composes his exact presentations – to use his own words – “in search of a beat like in a techno track”. This conceptual approach, often set to music and using industrial materials with flawless slick surfaces, means that a central aspect of his works is often overlooked: humor, or rather, as he puts it “artistic horsing about”.
(Stella Rollig, Axel Köhne in: Gerwald Rockenschaub circuit cruise / feasible memory/regulator, Belvedere 21, 2022).

„In my works I use simple, clear forms or elements and strong color contrasts as means of catching the viewer‘s attention, thus developing an interplay of visual meanings, associations, ruptures etc. In order to achieve the most incisive effect, I attempt to design my works so that they are as simple and precise as possible while also being complex. I like following unexpected trajectories and paths to confuse the viewers‘ gaze an divert their attention. This way I am in control of their physical experience within the exhibition space.” (Gerwald Rockenschaub in: SWING Kunsthalle Bern, 2008).

Gerwald Rockenschaub’s work links ready-mades and abstracts elements. The artist juxtaposes “specific objects” triggered by minimal art in a way that engenders “specific sites” constituting themselves through the – guided – view of the looker-on. Rockenschaub‘s sculptural and pictorial objects may be regarded as looking machines, the arrangement of which determines lines of vision as well as who looks and who is seen. They establish a dialogue between the subject and the object of this visual context and suggest modes of behavior. (Brigitte Huck in: Gerwald Rockenschaub Variations on Classic, Bawag Foundation, 2000).

Film: Sebastian Arlamovsky
Music: Gerwald Rockenschaub