'North of Nothing' was the first solo show by Quirin Krumbholz in April 2022. All pieces are performing on permanent magnetic fields, that replace conventional casting molds to form ferrous matter in space. The individual arrangements reflect personal experiences, philosophical ideas and societal consequences within the interest of the artist, all provoking ontological matters which are either imperceptible by the human senses or puzzling for our conscious reflection.
Selected works of the exhibition were also shown at the VRHAM in Hamburg and at the Progress in Architecture conference 2022 at Belvedere 21 in Vienna.
'Fluid Bodies' are liquid physical objects hanging in thin air. The complex surface structure is created by inner magnetic forces that actually destabilize the surface tension resulting in 'spiky' figures. External forces of observers and internal AI-informed electromagnetic impulses reveal the true fluidity, leaving most with a state of wonder, as the effect defies expectations of how physics work. Sometimes the objects appear almost alive by themselves.
The 'Hedgehogs' resemble living entities crawling their way through time. They leave no traces on their past wandering on ceilings, walls or floors. While their distant primary movement seems to be iterative and timeless, the close-by entity itself is bound to constant change in its inherent structure that appears to be a swarm of smaller individuals, rather than one body or organism. It askes questions about the recognition of systems on either close up or far distant perspectives and what we are able to perceive (or not) from very different positions.
The '2 plus 1' objects are spatial compressors emphasising our fundamental physical forces that are not visible for the human eye and only tangible by interaction. Their interdependent compositions open gaps of tension that constantly want to be closed by our common sense, but yet remain perfectly stable despite their interplay.
'Bipolar' is an extended void, stretched by two repelling objects, which are creating an interspace over almost one meter. Held only by strings and in perfect balance, the composition reveals a very strong repulsing force interacting inside the void. The closer one gets, the stronger manifests a presence of two individuals with unique characteristics, both not able to stabilize themselves without the other.
'Mirrortest' or MSR* plays with the unanswered question on how the faunal biodiversity manifests self-recognition. From our understanding today, there are just very few species that have passed the MSR test. "Species that have include the great apes, a single Asiatic elephant, rays, dolphins, orcas, the Eurasian magpie, and the cleaner wrasse." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_test)
*The test itself is discussed quite controversial among scientists and researchers especially for species that primarily use senses other than vision. For example, dogs mainly use smell and hearing; vision is used third. (Bekoff, Marc (19 September 2002). "Animal reflections". Nature. 419)
'Inception' is inspired by the ideas of Gilles Deleuze about the 'virtual', while also connected to the famous movie scene with the same title. While the two convex mirrors are reflecting both themselves and their environment, their central 'receptors' extend towards each other, folding into the intermediate nonreflective space of difference. The perimeter condition of the 'virtual' is emerging where the nonreflective is bent into the reflective space revealing the 'actual' on top of the image of the 'possible' in both mirrors.
'1' is the point of departure for the ongoing research about manifesting the fundamental forces that are imperceptible for the human senses without direct interaction. The visually chaotic randomness in the surfaces, created by the same physical force, contrasts the perfect balance within the composition as a whole.
'french kiss' is revealing all the static mechanical parts which manifest the physical process of the inherent magnetic force. An externally triggered spinning of the top against the bottom part results in a fluctuated touching and a partial exchange of the liquids. At the same time it is closing the field of force also visually for the observer, allowing a singular instead of a binary interpretation for a short period of time.
'Round Table' is a series of 9 distinct surface refinements, resulting in very individual characters bound together along a virtual string of discourse on:
freedom>equality | equality>freedom | solidarity>individualism
equality>freedom | freedom>equality | individualism>solidarity
It is only the first work of many, discussing semantic issues about the reconcilability of fundamental values within 'article 1' of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR):
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of solidarity."