Exhibition
At the opening the Galerie der stadt Schwaz extended beyond the Palais Enzenberg premises into the urban space. The artist group Gangart showed their multimedia performance LCD on two evenings in the newly completed underground carpark for the local hospital.
Three musicians performed in front of large, suspended panels of ice; the dripping of the melting ice into a tin bathtub was enhanced acoustically and intergrated rhythmially. A film was projected onto the back of the panels of ice: a loop showing insects buzzing around a street lamp, magically drawn by the light and endangered by the life-threatening heat. The soundtrack of this video provided an additional layer of sound.
The panels of ice were relatively thin; the many visitors and the equally warmth-exuding film projection combined to make the ice melt visibly during the performance.
In the press folder, Gangart wrote the following: "The work explores the occurrence of a sudden change of physical state. It is not merely the moment of ‚tipping', the short-circuit itself, but the chain of suggestion - insight - catastrophe, heading towards an uncertain coming. It poses questions about the significance of participation and non-participation.“
The insect motif addressed in the video was also taken up in the gallery installation. Maggots were bred in glass showcases, and at the end of the exhibition these glass containers housed hundreds of flies. The conveyal of dissolution and transformation was also the intention here. Entirely in keeping with the concept for running the gallery', Simonetta Ferfoglia and Heinrich Pichler of Gangart were in Schwaz weeks before the exhibition to carry out the extensive preparatory work for the event - in close contact and in collaboration with local artists and craftspeople.
text: Andrea Hörl
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