Roman Signer
Encyclopedia
Roman Signer in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
) is principally a visual artist who works in sculpture, installations photography, and video.
Early life and career
Born in Appenzell, Switzerland, Signer started his career as an artist later in life at the age of 28, after working as an architect’s draughtsman, a radio engineer apprentice, and a short stint in a pressure cooker factory. He holds degrees from arts institutions in SwitzerlandSwitzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. He studied at the Schule für Gestaltung in Zurich and Lucerne between 1966 and 1971. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland from 1971-1972.
Work
Signer's work has grown out of, and has affinities with both land artLand art
Land art, Earthworks , or Earth art is an art movement which emerged in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, in which landscape and the work of art are inextricably linked...
and performance art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
, but they are not typically representative of either category. It is often being descirbed as following the tradition of the Swiss engineer-artist, such as Jean Tinguely
Jean Tinguely
Jean Tinguely was a Swiss painter and sculptor. He is best known for his sculptural machines or kinetic art, in the Dada tradition; known officially as metamechanics...
and Peter Fischli & David Weiss
Peter Fischli & David Weiss
Peter Fischli and David Weiss , often shortened to Fischli/Weiss, are an artist duo that have been collaborating since 1979. They are among the most renowned contemporary artists of Switzerland...
.
Signer’s "action sculptures" involve setting up, carrying out, and recording "experiments" or events that bear aesthetic results. Day-to-day objects such as umbrellas, tables, boots, containers, hats and bicycles are part of Signer’s working vocabulary. Following carefully planned and strictly executed and documented procedures, the artist enacts and records such acts as explosions, collisions, and the projection of objects through space. Signer advocates ‘controlled destruction, not destruction for its own sake’. Action Kurhaus Weissbad (1992) saw chairs catapulted out of a hotel’s windows; Table (1994) launched a table into the sea on four buckets; Kayak (2000) featured the artist being towed down a road in a canoe. In documenta 8
Documenta
documenta is an exhibition of modern and contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. It was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau which took place in Kassel at that time...
(1987), he catapulted thousands of sheets of paper into the air to create an ephemeral wall in the room for a brief, but all the more intense moment. As the Swiss representative at the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
in 1999, he made 117 steel balls fall from the ceiling on to lumps of clay lying on the ground. Many of his happenings are not for public viewing, and are only documented in photos and film. Video works like Stiefel mit Rakete (Boot with Rocket) are integral to Signer’s performances, capturing the original setup of materials that self-destruct in the process of creating an emotionally and visually compelling event.
Signer gives a humorous twist to the concept of cause and effect and to the traditional scientific method of experimentation and discovery, taking on the self-evidence of scientific logic as an artistic challenge. As well as working in his studio, which he calls his lab, Signer often takes off to the Swiss mountains to conduct larger experiments. A recent example of his installation work was "Accident as sculpture" (Unfall als Skulptur)(2008) in which Signer had a three-wheeled delivery car, loaded with water barrels, roll down an 11 m high ramp and up the other side. At the apex, the vehicle overturned and crashed to the ground. The resulting chaotic arrangement constituted the exhibition at :de:Kunstraum Dornbirn. Another example, the video 56 Small Helicopters (56 Kleine Helikopter) (2008) shows a squadron of 56 remote-controlled toy helicopters as they rise into the air, collide with each other, carom off the ceiling and walls, and finally die in mechanical spasms on the floor.
In 2011, Signer showed Restenfilme or film leftovers, always presented in a darkened room furnished with several rows of wooden chairs, one of which rocks unassisted on its back legs. The projection gathers actions, which Signer never constituted as full artworks, as well as shots of locations that were possible staging grounds for potential works.
A collaborative film from 1996 with director Peter Liechti titled "Signer's Koffer" (English: "Signer's Suitcase") documents a series of his "action sculptures" along with interviews of Roman Signer and other characters encountered during his travels performing the work.
Exhibitions
Signer's work has been shown at galleries and museums in EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
over the last thirty years. It was featured in 37th Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
(1976), documenta 8
Documenta
documenta is an exhibition of modern and contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. It was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau which took place in Kassel at that time...
, Kassel (1987), and Skulptur Projekte Münster
Skulptur Projekte Münster
Skulptur Projekte Münster is an exhibition of sculptures in public places in the town of Münster...
(1997)
Selected solo shows
- 2009 Kunsthaus Zug, Roman Signer - Werke 1975-2007
- 2009 Hamburger Kunsthalle, Roman Signer - Projektionen. Filme und Videos 1975 - 2008
- 2008 Helmhaus Zürich, Roman Signer: Projektionen. Filme und Videos 1975 - 2008
- 2008 Kunstraum Dornbirn, Installation. Unfall als Skulptur
- 2008 Rochester Art Center, Roman Signer: Works
- 2008 Hauser & WirthHauser & WirthHauser & Wirth is one of the world's leading contemporary art galleries. In addition to representing over 40 established and emerging artists, the gallery represents the estates of Eva Hesse, Allan Kaprow, Lee Lozano, Jason Rhoades, Dieter Roth and André Thomkins, as well as the Henry Moore Family...
London - 2007 Hamburger BahnhofHamburger BahnhofHamburger Bahnhof is a former railway station in Berlin, Germany, on Invalidenstraße in the Moabit district opposite the Charité hospital. Today it serves as the Museum für Gegenwart , a contemporary art museum....
, Roman Signer – Werke aus der Friedrich Christian Flick Collection - Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin - 2007 The Fruitmarket Gallery, Roman Signer – Works
- 2006 Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Roman Signer. Kunstpreis Aachen 2006
- 2006 Aargauer Kunsthaus, Roman Signer – Reisefotos
- 2006 Galician Centre of Contemporary Art, Roman Signer. Esculturas e instalacións, Santiago de Compostela
Awards
- 2010 Prix Meret Oppenheim
- 2008 Finalist for the Hugo Boss PrizeHugo Boss PrizeThe Hugo Boss Prize is awarded every other year to an artist working in any medium, anywhere in the world. Since its establishment in 1996, it has distinguished itself from other art awards because it has no restrictions on nationality or age...
- 2008 Ernst-Franz-Vogelmann-Preis für Skulptur, Heilbronn
- 2006 Kunstpreis Aachen
- 2004 Kulturpreis der Stadt St. Gallen
- 1998 Konstanzer Kunstpreis
- 1998 Kulturpreis St. Gallen
- 1998 Kulturpreis Konstanz
- 1995 Kulturpreis Bregenz
- 1977 Eidgenössisches Kunststipendium
- 1974 Eidgenössisches Kunststipendium
- 1972 Eidgenössisches Kunststipendium
- 1972 Kiefer-Hablitzel Stipendium
Influences
A photo of Signer's "Wasser Stiefel" serves as the cover art of Upgrade & AfterlifeUpgrade & Afterlife
Upgrade & Afterlife is a 1996 album by Gastr del Sol.The album cover is Wasserstiefel by Swiss artist Roman Signer.-Track listing:# "Our Exquisite Replica of "Eternity":" –8:26# "Rebecca Sylvester" – 3:53...
(1996), an album by American experimental music group Gastr del Sol
Gastr del Sol
Gastr del Sol was a Chicago band consisting, for most of their career, of David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke. Between 1993 and 1998 they put out seven albums ranging in genre from post-rock to musique concrète....
.
External links
- http://www.romansigner.ch/
- http://www.artguide.org/exhibitions.php?id=5479584E
- http://www.secession.at/art/1999_signer_e.html
- http://www.cmoa.org/international/html/art/signer.htm
- http://www.absolutearts.com/artsnews/2000/10/17/27580.html
- http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_8_40/ai_85459256
- Video Interview of Roman Signer
- Videos von Roman Signer: „Frosch“ (2001), „Heufieber“ (2006), „Punkt“ (2006), „Hemd“ (2008), „56 kleine Helikopter“ (2008)