Brigitte Kowanz, 123, 2011

2011

Medium

Neon and stainless steel

Dimensions

90 × 90 cm

Edition

Ex. 1/3

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-155842

The round wall objects "123" (2011) and "456789" (2011) made of satin stainless steel and neon lamps give the impression of convex and concave shapes merging into each other - in reality this is an illusion created only by the neon light. The tubes are divided into segments and their light is thrown in a ring onto the metal surface. Kowanz chose the order of the segments according to the morse alphabet, realizing that this binary code serves both as carrier of information and facilitator of language - it translates the numerals in the titles into segments of light. "123" and "456789" seem to be rotating luminescent sculptures that radiate their sequences of numbers seemingly endlessly into the surrounding space. Since the late 1980s, Kowanz had frequently combined light with characters and linguistic codes to visualize the complex relationship between seeing and understanding, perception and recognition. Light becomes both material and information carrier at the same time, not only illuminating but also generating meaning as an independent phenomenon similar to language and writing: "Morse code is comprised of elementary forms: lines and dots, circles and rectangles, short and long. [...] It is a very minimal language, which all the same can represent any kind of complexity. The information transfer takes place in the space between on and off, light and shadow."