Torsten Lauschmann
Mary Mary, Glasgow, UK
Torsten Lauschmann, A Joy Ride (2009)
Technology’s influence on the two-dimensional image takes precedence in the substantial selection of new works included in Torsten Lauschmann’s ‘The Darker Ages’ at Mary Mary. In the unlit gallery one could be forgiven for mistaking the exhibition for a single installation work, each piece in the space sharing an investigation of the projected image. In doing so Lauschmann engages with a spectrum of new and obsolete technologies, using video and slide projection to examine the preconceived function of the medium.
Perpetual Adoration (2009)
Perpetual Adoration (all works 2009) is one of the simplest and yet most effective works in the show; its title refers to the Catholic practice of the non-stop praising of the blessed sacrament, though its appearance more closely resembles Kasimir Malevich’s 1915 Black Square. Here Lauschmann underscores our perception of positive and negative space by silhouetting a black square on the gallery wall, pointing to the dichotomous nature of the piece. This device is employed similarly in House of the rising sun, in which a large boulder-like sphere is painted onto the gallery wall, on top of which sits a house. The illusion of a sun rising inside the dwelling is created using a masked-off video projector, the light slowly casting the windows’ rectangular forms across the painted landscape. House of the rising sun is singled out by its Tim Burton-esque quality; where the other pieces evoke the nostalgic legacies of methods of projection, here a nostalgia for childhood is embodied in the projection’s narrative.
House of the rising sun (2009)
In the animated Thaumatrop No 1: Bird in a cage, Lauschmann uses the structure of a Victorian thaumatrope – a disc with an image on either side, that merges both into a single image when spun. This re-imagined version divides archive footage of a sideshow knife thrower and his young assistant, rendering them on either side of a computer-generated image of a disc. As it spins they become one in the same image. Where the 19th-century thaumatrope is celebrated as a precursor of early forms of cinematography and animation, this 21st-century digital incarnation posthumously combines the different eras in a two-minute loop, commenting on the medium’s evolution into computer animation.
Contemporary Gear Box (2009)
The sound piece He’s got the whole world in his hand provides an effective counterbalance to the quiet hum of the various projectors. From the speakers of a MacBook come the tones of a Tuvan throat singer; the laptop screen has been destroyed, a pen shattering its surface. The obvious ironies associated with the juxtaposition of old and new make this a rather straightforward statement, which is most successful for its audible influences on the other works that surround it.
Lauschmann makes clear with these works that he does not intend them to have singular meanings; he prefers to consistently and intentionally disrupt any implied resolution of ideas. In doing this he turns the viewer’s focus to his materials and their significance in the process of realizing his final outcomes. By contradicting our preconceived understanding of the image and its relationship to the technologies he uses, Lauschmann effectively gathers past, present and future to redefine a constantly shifting legacy.
Steven Cairns
Responses
There are no responses yet for this article.
