habaï ne sï natena, se paï tanïmena*
2023
The sculpture of three interwoven and entangled units seems strange and familiar at the same time, yet formal and contextual references to technical objects, architectural forms and the plant and animal world can be found. The sculpture, made of steel, photovoltaic panels, light bodies and electronic components, feeds on sunlight.
While during the day the photovoltaic panels convert solar energy into electrical energy that is fed into the power grid, at night the sculpture reverses the relation of production and becomes a consumer of previously contributed solar energy.
It emits intense plant light in violet color. Natural light is converted into technical light, striving to resemble the solar radiation.
The sculpture’s overall technoid-organic appearance is reminiscent of a machine-organism-hybrid , appearing archaic and futuristic at the same time.
Judith Fegerl has been dealing with energy as a medium and material in her artistic work for many years. With habaï ne sï natena, se paï tanïmena she explores ecological, cultural, aesthetic and systemic aspects of the green engery providing technology, negotiates the reciprocal and complementary relationship between nature and culture as well as the effects and benefits of technological developments.
curator: Verena Kaspar-Eisert
* “Let us give back to nature that which she gave to us.” from the film Valerian and the City of a thousand Planets (2017), by Luc Besson and Virginie Besson-Silla.