Bringing world-standard art to Bad Rothenfelde
lichtsicht 7 Projection Triennale: 23 October 2020 – 21 February 2021
lichtsicht 7 Projection Triennale: 23 October 2020 – 21 February 2021
Preparations for the latest version of the lichtsicht 7 Projection Triennale are in full swing. All those involved have a lot to do before the event kicks off on 23 October. After all, the outstanding light art festival held in the spa town of Bad Rothenfelde, near Osnabrück, has completely reinvented itself. At the request of the creator and founder of the lichtsicht Projection Biennale, Heinrich W. Risken, the event has been changed from a format financed entirely by private funding from the foundation that bears his name to a publicly funded light art triennial. The organiser is now lichtsicht gemeinnützige Veranstaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Bad Rothenfelde, which was established in spring of this year.
New profile of the lichtsicht 7 Projection Triennale
This year’s edition of the lichtsicht Projection Triennale bears the number SEVEN in its name. Yes, it is a continuation, but above all a new beginning – despite these times! It is also a question of reinvention, raising the profile of this unique event in the process. A new profile will be achieved as follows:
1). Striking a contemporary chord (documenta 2022 serves as an example), the new-format artistic team is made up of several creative minds and encompasses all generations. Rather than going it alone or relying on a single genius, we are currently witnessing collective structures of dialogue. These structures result in an unprecedented level of diversity and multiperspectivity, owed in part to the broad audience.
The artistic team is made up of Michael Bielicky (Curator and Artistic Director), his research assistant Paul Kenig, Project Manager Tim Roßberg, and Christian Meyer (Technical Director and Facilitator).
2). Despite a smaller budget, visitors will be able to experience more positions than ever before. This is achieved by showcasing innovative student projects for the first time, alongside works by established, internationally renowned artists. There is collaboration with talented young artists from the University of Art Braunschweig, Musashino Art University in Tokyo, and Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG).
3). State-of-the-art projection technology. There have been many advances in projection technology over the past ten years. With the support of the Heinrich W. Risken Foundation, new projectors have been procured that ensure significantly better quality in terms of image resolution and data processing. What’s more, these projectors have a better energy balance, which pays off in daily operation.
4). Besides projections, there will also be augmented reality pieces of art, which will unfold on visitors’ smartphones. Augmented reality can be regarded as an extension of virtual reality. It is a medium that applies real-time interactive elements to create a three-dimensional extension of virtual reality. It is said that these elements appeal to multiple senses. They are portrayed as though they were part of the real world and simultaneously physically connected to the virtual world.
5). lichtsicht 7 will make a real contribution to gender equality in the art world: for the first time, there will be an almost 50/50 ratio of female to male artists.
This should be emulated throughout the world.
Experiencing high-calibre art – in a unique format – in an infection-free environment
In times of Coronavirus, lichtsicht 7 is the perfect way to experience high-calibre projection art – outdoors in an infection-free, worry-free environment, with the added advantage of inhaling fresh air enriched with ground source brine. The roughly one kilometre long art site surrounding the graduation towers, up to 14 metres high in places, offers a projection surface totalling 10,000 square metres. A single work can be up to 312 metres in length. The dimensions are gigantic, and unique the world over with regard to the natural and historic setting.
Most culture enthusiasts from major art hubs have yet to realise that the lichtsicht Projection Triennale – with its unique feature of salty, crystalline walls of blackthorn as a naturally produced projection surface – represents culture at the highest artistic level. The pandemic could be an opportunity to discover and appreciate art reception in the periphery, with a view to stimulate art tourism, which has come to a virtual standstill. lichtsicht in Bad Rothenfelde showcases world-class art, offering visitors a maximum-safety voyage of discovery without having to go abroad – in a nutshell, the perfect format!
It represents a magical combination of supreme intellectual vigour and top entertainment for young and old alike. Then ideal place for a family outing, while maintaining social distancing. An experience for all the senses: taking an evening to night-time stroll, the visitor’s eyes, ears, breath and, above all, mind are stimulated.
“A world-standard event in Bad Rothenfelde” – the artists involved in lichtsicht 7
The previous 6 editions of the lichtsicht Projection Biennale have set the standards for the quality of the event. Illustrious names from the international art scene, such as William Kentridge, Robert Wilson, AES+F, Sigalit Landau, Kanjo Také, Ryoji Ikeda, Eyal Gever and rosalie, were fascinated by the opportunity to experience their art on the branch-structured, sparkling wet projection surface of the graduation towers. A setting that gave their pieces a magical aura that no museum in the world can produce.
Michael Bielicky, who has showcased his artwork at the event several times and now assumes the role of Artistic Director and Curator of lichtsicht 7, is well aware of these distinctive features and manages to inspire many of his chosen artists with his enthusiasm. He sees lichtsicht as an opportunity to “bring world-standard art to Bad Rothenfelde”, and placed his main focus on art with Asian connotations. By doing so, he breaks with our usual Eurocentric perception. Nevertheless, it is possible to sense in this focus an expedient continuation of a long tradition, laid by the artistic positions of Kanjo Také, Ryoji Ikeda, Mioon-Min Kim, Moon Choi, Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joonho selected by the previous curators, Manfred Schneckenburger and Peter Weibel.
Chinese media artist Miao Xiaochun, who is represented on the international art market, showcases a data-driven animation of a human figure created by 3D scanning. The use of motion detection programs (open source online) and deformation software, enhanced by the computer-generated grid structure, creates an absurd sequence of human motions. The artist sees this as a parable of the “Manifesto of Futurism” and its design for the future. “It is exactly like us, occupied by the busy meaningfulness of our tasks.”
In their work Brush the Sky, mother and daughter duo Tamiko Thiel and Midori Kono Thiel use the millennia-old art form of calligraphy – somewhere between gestural brush painting, the poetic abstraction of golden letters, and geolocatively augmented reality – to colour the night sky against the therapy centre.
In a second piece by Tamiko Thiel, oversized mutated water lilies float on the pond. They appear to expand due to the electromagnetic radiation of the mobile phones on which they are displayed, posing a carnivorous threat to the audience.
Eternal Dream, a data-driven, interactive installation by Simon Weckert and Philipp Weiser, makes every visitor’s dream of being able to fly come true. When the visitor jumps up within a predefined area, a copy of his body is saved in the cloud, and projected from there onto the graduation tower. Emanating from this snapshot, his flight not only takes off before the deep blue colour of the projection screen, but also passes through the vast expanse of the web. Consequently, he enters a pact with the artistic duo for an indefinite period.
Ulm-born Max Hattler, currently Assistant Professor at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, creates a data-driven pop-up water projection. Light-kinetic, geometric shapes in coolly iridescent shades evolve into a digital light show.
In her work the act of changing something’s position from 2020, US-American artist Natalie Bookchin from Brooklyn, New York, reflects a looped time shot of the current protests in the face of systemic violence against Black Americans. The work reanimates an archive of hundreds of videos of uprisings shared on the internet into a performance of staying put or, better still, standing ground. The highly topical piece, created especially for the lichtsicht 7 Projection Triennale, reflects recent political events in the USA.
The artistic positions described here are just a few examples of what awaits visitors to lichtsicht 7. Additional artists and their works will be introduced soon in press releases, Facebook posts, updated daily, and on the website at https://www.lichtsicht-triennale.de.
The lichtsicht 7 Projection Triennale website, currently being relaunched, will offer more detailed information. It will soon provide the latest lichtsicht 7 news, and information on the participating artists and their biographies and works, available to the press for download in texts, moving images and photos.
A catalogue, which should double up as an exhibition guide, is currently being created.
We look forward to engaging in an excitingly new artistic discourse in the age of artificial intelligence, and thank you for reporting about the event.
Kind regards,
Dr. Sabine Weichel-Kickert
on behalf of lichtsicht gemeinnützige Veranstaltungsgesellschaft mbH
Request photographic material from:
Bad Rothenfelde Public Relations
Sabine Leclercq-Fröbel
Print-quality photos of test projections can be sent via WeTransfer.