Brigitte Kowanz, Just make sense, 2000

2000

Medium

Neon and acrylic glass

Dimensions

100 × 105 cm

Edition

Ex. 1/3

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-156132

In "Just make sense" (2000) Brigitte Kowanz uses an alphanumerical system, logically replacing the individual letters of the title with the numbers their position in the alphabet represent. She places the three words one below the other so as to form a mathematical addition. Then she reverses the process and the sum is translated into letters. Although she strictly adheres to the alphanumeric logic, the resulting word eludes the understanding of the beholder. In this way Kowanz disrupts the perception of language as an easily adoptable means of communication and reveals language as code, a variation of sequenceable and producible series of signals that she translates into neon light. "My interest in language lies in it’s ability to construct or create reality, the same way light makes this visible." Hence "Just make sense" invites the beholder to discover light as carrier of information and facilitator of language.