Channel 1 © Gerwald Rockenschaub

diverted / accelerated / no secrets round-up

Gerwald Rockenschaub

  • Year 2020
  • Edition Unique copy
  • Material/Technique 5-channel installation (b/w, sound)
  • Length Loop
  • Category Media Art
  • Collection Sammlung Goetz, Medienkunst, München

Geometric forms flicker across the screen like a menacing fire. This image is accompanied by a minimalistic electric sound. Although Gerwald Rockenschaub’s 5-channel installation diverted / accelerated / no secrets round-up is limited to a few geometric elements in black and white, it nonetheless opens up an entire universe of artistic expression. In contrast to radical minimal art, the Austrian artist, born in 1952, has never disassociated himself from popular culture, but instead has sought a cross-over between art, design, media and everyday life from the start of his career. He liberated the concept of minimalism from its rigid rules and has used it to create his own “funky minimal” style.

Rockenschaub made his first animations in the 1990s when he staged techno parties in various Viennese locations. As a large-format multi-channel installation, he first presented one of these in an art context in 2004 as part of his exhibition at MUMOK in Vienna. The new 5-channel installation diverted / accelerated / no secrets round-up for the Sammlung Goetz is the first of his cinematic works for which Rockenschaub composed his own audio on the computer. The different sound sequences evoke associations with techno without referring to specific models. They follow an imaginary rhythm of simple to more complex structures, which also develop visually in the five projections.

In addition to having developed an independent artistic position, Rockenschaub also worked as an internationally successful DJ. Art and music enter into a fruitful symbiosis with him. This crossover is also evident in the 5-channel installation, which the artist designed especially for the Sammlung Goetz.

Gerwald Rockenschaub. Re-entry (Third Ear Edit)

72 pages, 26 ill., softcover
German/English
2017, Hatje Cantz Verlag, Berlin
ISBN 978-3-7757-4320-4
€ 20,00

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