Roman Signer

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Roman Signer (born May 19, 1938 in Appenzell ) is a Swiss sculptor, draftsman, action / concept artist and filmmaker. He lives and works in St. Gallen .

Life

Signer completed an apprenticeship as a structural draftsman and attended arts and crafts schools in Zurich from 1966 and from 1969 to 1971 in Lucerne. From 1971 to 1972 a stay at the Art Academy in Warsaw followed . Here he met his future wife, Aleksandra Rogowiec. Since 1972 he has been working as a freelance artist in St. Gallen.

From 1974 to 1995 he worked as a teacher and lecturer at the School of Design in Lucerne. From 1973 onwards, numerous exhibitions in galleries and museums at home and abroad followed, and since 1981 public actions. Since its holdings Roman Signer thing of the Documenta 8 in Kassel (1987 - Paper Screen, you finish the Documenta), the exhibition Skulptur.Projekte in Münster (1997) and the Biennale in Venice (1999) to the most important European contemporary artists.

plant

Signer's work “Der Tisch” in Appenzell. Water can flow at high pressure from the two table legs facing the river, causing the table to tip upside down on the lawn.

The starting point for Signer's work is the sixties concept of sculpture, as Harald Szeemann first put it up for discussion in his legendary exhibition " When Attitudes Become Form " in 1968. With his events and installations, the artist has been working on a redefinition of sculpture since the 1970s, incorporating time, acceleration and change into the sculptural process and re-exploring the possibilities of the medium.

Known to a larger audience through spectacular actions with dynamite , transformation, explosion and demolition are only one side of Roman Signer's artistic work. Already in his earliest works from 1971 - the unrealized Warsaw Project (1972) or the Self-Portrait from Weight and Fall Height (1972) - the emergence of an idiosyncratic oeuvre was emerging, which, however, only gained international recognition from the 1990s.

Boot fountain in Solothurn
Roman Signer - Fountain in Munich's Petuelpark

In his work, sand, water, wind and simple utensils such as tables, chairs, barrels, bicycles, kayaks or even small motorized vehicles that are deliberately exposed to complex transformation processes or explosive events take the place of classic sculptural materials. The interplay of precise planning and unpredictable chance creates installations of aesthetics and poetry. Systematic, precise and simple means are characteristic of the artist's work.

Some of Signer's works are characterized by an expansive character, such as the Aktion mit einer Zündschnur (1989): From September 11 to October 15, 1989, the artist had a fuse burned from his place of birth Appenzell to his current place of residence, St. Gallen and accompanies them day and night.

Nonetheless, Signer sees himself as a sculptor. "Perhaps I have a different concept of sculpture that gradually develops in my actions. I have always seen myself as a sculptor. It's always about problems in space, what happens in space, the passage of time." (Conversation with Lutz Tittel, 1984)

The results are often ephemeral works that are documented in photo series, film or video recordings. Over the years, these media, along with preparatory sketches and drawings, have developed into independent work strands within the oeuvre and are traded on the art market.

Exhibitions (selection)

Solo exhibitions

  • 2009 Kunsthaus Zug, Roman Signer - Works 1975-2007
  • 2010 ETH Zurich graphic collection, Roman Signer, sketches and models
  • 2009 Hamburger Kunsthalle , Roman Signer - projections. Films and Videos 1975–2008
  • 2008 Helmhaus , Zurich, Roman Signer: Projections. Films and Videos 1975–2008
  • 2008 Kunstraum Dornbirn, installation. Accident as a sculpture
  • 2008 Rochester Art Center, Roman Signer: Works
  • 2008 Hauser & Wirth London
  • 2007 Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart , Berlin, Roman Signer - Works from the Friedrich Christian Flick Collection
  • 2007 The Fruitmarket Gallery, Roman Signer - Works
  • 2006 Ludwig Forum for International Art , Aachen, Roman Signer. Aachen Art Prize 2006
  • 2006 Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Roman Signer - travel photos
  • 2006 Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela, Roman Signer. Esculturas e instalacións
  • 2016 Center de la Photographie, Genève / Geneva, Roman Signer. Le Temps gelé / The Frozen Time , September 16 - November 13, 2016
  • 2019 Montsoreau Castle - Museum of Contemporary Art , Roman Signer

Group exhibitions

Awards

literature

  • Sandra Brutscher: Pawel Althamer. , in: Georg-Kolbe-Museum (ed.): Vanitas - Eternal is nothing. Exhibition catalog, Berlin, 2014, p. 68.
  • Roman Signer - Speeches and Talks, Edition Stephan Witschi, Zurich 2013, p. 128, ISBN 978-3-906191-00-3
  • Angeli Janhsen : Roman Signer , in: New Art as Catalyst , Reimer Verlag, Berlin 2012, pp. 118–123. ISBN 978-3-496-01459-1
  • Gerhard Mack [et al.]: Roman Signer. London: Phaidon, 2006.
  • Roman Signer: Hauser and Wirth Collection . Ed .: Michaela Unterdörfer. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz, 2004 [This publication documents the Roman Signer exhibition in the Hauser and Wirth collection in the St. Gallen Lokremise from May 11 to October 12, 2003 and is also part of the collection's inventory catalog].
  • Roman Signer: Overview of works 1971–2002 . Edited by Peter Zimmermann; Texts by Roman Signer. Zurich: Unique, 2003, 3 vols.
  • Paul Good: Time Sculpture. Roman Signer's Work in Philosophical Perspective . Zurich: unique items; Cologne: Walther König, 2002.
  • Roman Signer. XLVIII. Biennale di Venezia 1999. Svizzera. Biennale di Venezia, 1999. [Text:] Konrad Bitterli. Bern: Federal Office of Culture, 1999.
  • Jean-Yves Jouannais [et al.]: Matthew Barney, Sarah Lucas, Roman Signer . In: Parkett, 1995, 45.
  • Gerhard Mack: Roman Signer. Space as a potential of time. In: artist. Critical lexicon of contemporary art. Munich: Weltkunst und Bruckmann, 1995.
  • Roman Signer: Sculpture. Catalog raisonné 1971 to 1993. Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, 1993–94 . [Texts:] Konrad Bitterli, Roland Wäspe and Lutz Tittel. St. Gallen, 1993.
  • Roman Signer: Images from Super 8 films 1975–1989 . Helmhaus Zurich, 1992. Zurich: Offizin, 1992 [German, English].
  • Roman Signer: Sculpture . Text: Corinne Schatz. St. Gallen: Vexer, 1988
  • Marc Gundel (Ed.): Roman Signer. Everything in flux. First winner of the Ernst Franz Vogelmann Foundation , with text contributions by Marc Gundel and Lothar Heinle as well as photographs by Frank Kleinbach, Bielefeld, Kerber Verlag 2009, ISBN 978-3-86678-257-0

Films and video documentations

  • 2006 Music video for "Horst" by the German hip-hop band Blumentopf - created by Peter Liechti from excerpts from earlier videos about Roman Signer
  • 1999 Vulcanizzazione
  • 1999 Biennale di Venezia - by Aufdi Aufdermauer and Aleksandra Signer
  • 1997 Muenster walking stick - by Aleksandra Signer
  • 1997 hat - by Aleksandra Signer
  • 1996 Windmill - by Aleksandra Signer
  • 1996 Small Events - by Aleksandra Signer
  • 1995 Signer's suitcase - On the way with Roman Signer - a film by Peter Liechti
  • 1994 Work 1994 - 1996 - by Aleksandra Signer
  • 1990 Action with a fuse - Video by Peter Liechti
  • 1987 Three art editions on Roman Signer - video by Peter Liechti
  • 1987 Thaw - Eau de Vie - Nice Weather - Video by Peter Liechti
  • 1987 Documenta 8 - Action in front of the Orangery in Kassel - Video by Peter Liechti
  • 1985 Vertical / Horizontal - experimental film by Peter Liechti

Web links

Commons : Roman Signer  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Le point de vue de Christophe Le Gac. In: artpress. August 1, 2019, accessed on October 12, 2019 (Fri-FR).
  2. ^ Announcement on the exhibition ( Memento of the original from October 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed September 28, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.georg-kolbe-museum.de
  3. ↑ Art walks to Roman Signer's work stadt.sg.ch (accessed on 24 December 2015)
personal data
SURNAME Signer, Roman
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss action artist
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Appenzell , Switzerland