Brigitte Kowanz, High Five, 2021

2021

Medium

Aluminum, fluorescent lamps, reflecting textile and cable

Dimensions

120 × 120 cm

Edition

Ex. 1/3

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-155876

On the reflective textile of "High Five" (2021), whose reflective textile can be activated by flashlight photography, five short black light lamps are set horizontally, connected to the fabric by orange glowing cables. In the darkness, the black light tubes and the glowing cables stand out from the background. The result are five lines that seem to float in space and establish a formal proximity to Kowanz‘ expansive installation "Light Steps". In her works, Kowanz consistently reflects on the influence of light-generating New Media on society, as well as on art, and from the very beginning she addresses aspects of virtualization as well as new forms of image and space. In "High Five" she formally refers to the classical medium of the image, which she attempts to dissolve by adding and displaying light on the surface. She develops a visual language with a virtual appearance that is created by translating the two-dimensional perception of the surface into a three-dimensional propagation of light waves in space: "With my works, I try to create spatiality, that is, three-dimensionality, through the layering of transparent surfaces such as glass or of reflective surfaces, and to create new, virtual spaces with the help of light." As a pioneer of the media-reflexive approach, Kowanz developed destabilized, moving spaces. With light serving as a mediator of transgression and specification – an integrative relation between work, space and recipient emerged.