Panta Rhei Meanders Through Space

It is quite logical that a waterworks/energy company, having its anniversary, would arrange an art exhibition, concentrating on light as a material and water and time as themes. And that's what RheinEnergie did. The result is exhibition Panta rhei (29.4.–25.9.2022), where time, water and light intermingle effortlessly in the beautiful old waterworks building. 

Molitor & Kuzmin underground

There were two projection artworks, quite different visually, both dealing with rippling water. In François Schwamborn’s Nervous Water we see a water surface, reflecting greenery around it, in a very slow motion. It’s hard to tell if the material is filmed, painted of computer generated, since the slowness of it sheds the characteristics of rippling water and renders the material beautifully impressionist. 

Claude Monet would have loved this

Hartung & Trenz had a another piece called Panta rhei in Brixen Light Art Festival last spring, so they're familiar with the theme. Will get back to that festival later. The artist duo use projected texts regularly in their work, and Momentum is no exception. The words “kinetai kai pei ta panta” (another version of "everything moves") are projected to the wall, building up a meandering river of words. I did catch some other words as well, like “lager”, but that might have been just a premonition, see "Touristy Tips" at the end. The ripple here was caused by reflecting water pools and dropping water, but also by the viewers walking past the projectors. Interactivity!

Words rippling

Bastian Hoffmann’s two minimalistic water sculptures (both called Untitled) were the most concrete handling of water in the exhibition. A stable water jet, seemingly defying gravity and disturbance, disappeared in a hole, forming a glass-like arch. The simplicity and serenity of the artworks made a great impression to me. There really wasn’t anything to show off, just the idea. For once, I didn’t touch the artwork. But I really, really wanted to. 

Eero Saarinen would have loved this

Mischa Kuball, on the other hand, dealt with water in a more figurative way, quite unlike his other works I've seen. In Objects, artefacts and other damages abandoned historical and contemporary objects float in a long, video-projected river, while it turns all murky. The murkiness starts from a coffee box, which I, as an avid coffee drinker, take a little offense of. 

Yes, blame the coffee drinkers

Mirrors and infinity rooms are a big trend in light art at the moment. Huge trend. Remembering LUX: New Wave of Contemporary Art with its several reflections-based ideas I wondered if there’s still something new to it. Surprisingly, Jacqueline Hen’s super simple infinity grid Light High went back to basics, and it was quite refreshing in my simple mind. Even the slight ripple in lights in the start and end of the loop felt a tad unnecessary show-off.

Know your coordinates

Molitor & Kuzmin had a take on time and moving. Fluorescents en masse tend to be impressive and that’s what Molitor & Kuzmin went with. Which is no surprise, they are masters of fluorescent heaps after all. The obviously site-specific Scratch fills a pit and the space above it with rigorously organized fluorescents, and on the bottom of the artwork there are discs spinning, with “time” or “zeit” written on them with neon. Yes, everything moves, and time especially so.

Time is spinning

The route was carefully planned, meandering through the building in an unexpected but comprehensive order, revealing a nook (and artwork) after another. The artworks are in unity with the space, rather than objects scattered into an exhibition hall. I’m really glad that the space is not stuffed with artworks, the ones there are, are quite enough. The exhibition is coherent thematically, but diverse in form. I hope there will be other light based exhibitions in the space, it is really apt to it!

Touristy Tip

It's hard to imagine that a Finnish power company would have a bar of their own, but that seems to be no problem in Germany: there’s a really nice beer garden in the back yard.