Herwig Weiser                                            

“Death Before Disko”
8 September –  29 October 2005

Galerie Lisa Ruyter is pleased to present “Death Before Disko” an exhibition by Austrian artist Herwig Weiser. The show will open on 8 September and will continue through 29 October.

Herwig Weiser’s work crosses many boundaries of art-making. His art supplies are magnetic systems, low-tech electronic equipment, and chemical composites. His suppliers are innovative recyclers, university research departments, machinists, and chemical companies. His works are intense points of focus, the result of thousands of phone calls, hours of research and development, and trial and error.

The exhibition features a prototype of a machine being developed for a solo installation in a shipping container for Art Basel Miami Beach this December.

The machine is a sort of liquid disco ball, a sound-sculpture that looks like it was designed by Nikola Tesla for a high end electronics company. Similar to Weiser’s “zII” the work looks like it could fit right in with your entertainment system. The piece consists of a grey plexiglass tube, speakers, LED lights, a computer system, a motor, an array of magnets, and magnetic fluid, which is activated by the movement of the motor, the pressure of the sound system, and the programming of the lights.

A component element of most of Herwig Weiser’s work, is that of collaboration. In this case, electronics technician, Albert Bleckmann; programmer, Patrick Homolka, who has designed a program to process live feeds of sounds of outer space, sampled from sources on the internet. This program also controls the LED lights. A large number of people helped develop all of the individual parts of this compact work. The title “Death Before Disko” is in memory of Christian Morgenstern, who released a record with the same title.

Herwig Weiser (b. 1969 Innsbruck) studied architecture at TU-Innsbruck, fine arts at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, Media Art at the Kunsthochschule für Medien in Cologne. He lives and works in Cologne and Seoul.