4 February–13 March 2011
www.cac.lt
www.goethe.de/litauen
The Contemporary Art Centre and Goethe-Institut in Vilnius are happy to present the first comprehensive solo show of Carsten Nicolai to date.
The show pioneer, on display in the Contemporary Art Centre, is titled after one of the most recent works by the artist—an ephemeral installation featuring a huge parachute, presented to the public for the first time. ‘pioneer‘ marks the experimental nature of Nicolai’s work—his exhibitions resemble scientific laboratories where various calculations and tests with partly open results are performed.
Carsten Nicolai frequently uses geometrical, optical, ornamental structures, yet his works are not limited to explorations of form. He seeks to demonstrate the internal configuration of a form and reveal the physical processes and formulas that underlie different natural phenomena. In the exhibition pioneer, words uttered by Laurie Anderson are materialised as aluminium sculptures, burning gas in a transparent tube visualises the speed of acoustic waves, the usually unseen heat waves become visible with the help of light and shadow, while another video work demonstrates the phenomenon of stealth that resembles military technology to prevent detection of information.
Although the artist’s creative method is based on theories from mathematics, physics and natural science, he attributes equal importance to the concepts of chance and error. Many of his sound and visual works employ a mathematical rule or a module that enables self-generating creative processes. The same methods are common in his musical experiments, in which the artist creates live sound and visual structures that interact with each other (Carsten Nicolai is known in the world of electronic music as lava noto).
The presentation of Carsten Nicolai’s works in Lithuania is supported by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.
Contemporary Art Centre
Vokiečių g.2, Vilnius, Lithuania
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday 12:00 to 20:00
*Image above:
Photo: Carsten Nicolai.
Courtesy Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig/Berlin and The Pace Gallery.
