pe lang :: moving objects nº 804

 
pelang

Click on image to watch the video.

Motor, cords, various mechanical parts
Size: 74 x 100 cm
Year: 2013
View: Studio Berlin
 
pelang.ch
 
“Pe Lang’s kinetic objects obey a stringent constructive optimization in which each element can be decoded with respect to its functionality. Nothing about them seems ornamental or arbitrary. Their syntax is dominated by precision and control as the framework for sophisticated aleatorics, in which order and chaos are placed in fragile balance. This happens within an intensely aestheticized context wherein each detail has a formal significance.

Pe Lang came to kinetic art through experimental music and sound art. For the artist, born 1974 in Switzerland, it is a development that seems completely natural, in the sense that each sound is caused by movements of air molecules. Mechanical movements are, from his perspective, nothing more than greatly slowed wave frequencies. This fundamentally musically inspired attitude can be observed in Pe Lang’s kinetic systems: with bewitching elegance, they harness physical forces and put them on stage. These are constructions that are as soulful as they are ingenious, and which challenge seeing, hearing and thinking equally.” Marc Wellmann

“Controlled and precise, Lang’s elegant machines act as mesmerising revelations about the relation between moving bodies and the forces acting upon them. Working with seemingly mundane hardware such as magnets, steel spheres, motors or metal sheet, Lang orchestrates spare parts into mysterious vignettes that both intrigue and challenge our expectations of how objects will behave. From multiple rotating coils of chain, to chimeric viscous liquids – or entire walls of o-rings that appear to dance along strings – the behaviours of his machine are at once repetitive and full of character.” Rebecca Roke
 

christo :: the big air package

 
christo 4
 
The Big Air Package in the Gasometer Oberhausen is the latest project by Christo and the largest indoor sculpture in the world. It consists of 20,350 m2 of fabric shaped in a giant balloon 90m high and 50m in diameter, which is installed inside the space that was originally designed as an industrial gas tank. Two air fans keep the package upright, while 60 additional projectors create a diffuse light throughout the interior. Inside the sculpture, an extraordinary experience of shape, space and light is provided. The material is translucent so that the light can penetrate from the above into the interior, where it develops an indirect, mysterious effect on observers. The sculpture can be viewed both from inside and outside until 30th December 2013 and it is accompanied by an additional exhibition in the ground floor of the Gasometer, which shows a selection of the most important projects by Christo and Jeanne- Claude from the last five decades.
 
christo 7
 
During the period of the exhibition seven original design drawings of the Big Air Package will be on display in the cabinet of the ‘Ludwiggalerie’ in Schloss Oberhausen. These predominantly large-format works provided the model for the Big Air Package. They were produced in Christo‘s New York studio and show the development of the idea from 2010 up to its implementation in 2013. Click here to watch a video, where artists explains how this work was made.
 
christo 2a
 

www.gasometer.com

www.christojeanneclaude.net