Wertinvest
Innovation
Brigitte Kowanz
The goal of the site-specific installation is to fill the architectural space with light, energy, and ideas. The work, specially designed for the VARTA House, is based on the media of light, space, and language.
The spatial, transcending work addresses visibility, perception, and the production of meaning.
The artist's signature is translated directly into neon. Upon closer inspection, the word "Innovation" can be discerned. Innovation embodies the character of today's ever-changing time. The neon inscription fluctuates between readability and unreadability, subtly raising questions of knowledge. This process creates a distinct connection to VARTA's exploration. Research and development act as a conceptual intersection between the artwork, the viewers, and the client.
Innovation is enlightening, a quality also attributed to the medium of light. Light is a carrier of information, making everything visible — yet remaining invisible itself. The significance of handwriting, emphasizing individuality as a constant in constant change, should also be noted here. Through light, the spatial experience is expanded, giving rise to an altered perception of space, an interaction between matter and light.
On the wall opposite the inscription, a mirror is placed. The mirror plays a significant role in Kowanz's oeuvre. Using mirrors, she creates virtual spaces that break the boundaries of real space. Light and script fill these spaces. Observers who see themselves in the artwork can enter these infinite spaces, surrounded by the text. The generated spaces metaphorically represent an energetic force field, providing room for reflection and inspiration. Simultaneously, they possess a calming function in times of relentless acceleration. The artwork literally becomes a medium of reflection.
Through the condensation and interweaving of light, language, and mirrors, a distance from the observer is created. This distance can provide clarity about their role in the perception-interpretation process, highlighting the central parameters of this work. Precision and delimitation, exact definition, and reflexive openness serve as mutually dependent, relativizing, and interpretive criteria.
Brigitte Kowanz studied at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna from 1975 to 1980, where she has been a professor since 1997. Kowanz lives and works in Vienna. This year, she, alongside Erwin Wurm, is designing the Austrian Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale.