Roman Signer

Roman Signer (b. 1938 in Appenzell, Switzerland) is principally a visual artist who works in sculpture, installations photography, and video. He holds degrees from arts institutions in Switzerland and Poland. He studied at the Schule für Gestaltung in Zurich and Lucerne between 1966 and 1971. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland from 1971-1972. His work has been shown at galleries and museums in Europe, North America and Asia over the last thirty years. In 2008 Signer was a finalist for the Hugo Boss Prize.

Signer’s "action sculptures" involve setting up, carrying out, and recording "experiments" or events that bear aesthetic results. Following carefully planned and strictly executed and documented procedures, the artist enacts and records such acts as explosions, collisions, and the projection of objects through space. Video works like Stiefel mit Rakete (Boot with Rocket) are integral to Signer’s performances, capturing the original setup of materials that self-destruct in the process of creating an emotionally and visually compelling event. Signer gives a humorous twist to the concept of cause and effect and to the traditional scientific method of experimentation and discovery, taking on the self-evidence of scientific logic as an artistic challenge. A recent example of his installation work was "Accident as sculpture" (Unfall als Skulptur)(2008) in which Signer had a three-wheeled delivery car, loaded with water barrels, roll down an 11 m high ramp and up the other side. At the apex, the vehicle overturned and crashed to the ground. The resulting chaotic arrangement constituted the exhibition at de:Kunstraum Dornbirn.^[1]

A photo of Signer's "Wasser Stiefel" serves as the cover art of Upgrade & Afterlife (1996), an album by American experimental music group Gastr del Sol.

Exhibitions (selection)

2009 Kunsthaus Zug, Roman Signer - Werke 1975-2007
2009 Hamburger Kunsthalle, Roman Signer - Projektionen. Filme und Videos 1975 - 2008
2008 Helmhaus Zürich, Roman Signer: Projektionen. Filme und Videos 1975 - 2008
2008 Kunstraum Dornbirn, Installation. Unfall als Skulptur
2008 Rochester Art Center, Roman Signer: Works
2008 Hauser & Wirth London
2007 Hamburger Bahnhof, Roman Signer – Werke aus der Friedrich Christian Flick Collection - Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin
2007 The Fruitmarket Gallery, Roman Signer – Works
2006 Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Roman Signer. Kunstpreis Aachen 2006
2006 Aargauer Kunsthaus, Roman Signer – Reisefotos
2006 Galician Centre of Contemporary Art, Roman Signer. Esculturas e instalacións, Santiago de Compostela

Awards

Notes

^ "Accident as sculpture" (Unfall als Skulptur) at Kunstraum Dornbirn, Austria (2008) (German)

External links

[1] "Accident as sculpture" (Unfall als Skulptur) at Kunstraum Dornbirn, Austria (2008) (German)

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