Mischa Kuball: SCAPE 7 artist

16 August 2012

Mischa Kuball: SCAPE 7 artist

German Artist Mischa Kuball will be commissioned to create an artwork for the SCAPE 7 Christchurch Biennial of Art in Public Space which will run from September 20 to November 2 2013.

Mischa has been working conceptually and artistically with artificial light for more than twenty years. In the 1990s, his works broke new ground when he created large scale, after-dark light installations such as Dusseldorf’s “Megazeichen”. In 1994, his project “Refraction House” lit the interior space of a formerly defunct synagogue, making it visible from a distance and projecting a strong symbolic presence into its environment. For the 1998 Biennale do São Paulo, Kuball exchanged standard lights for ones from private households in “Private Light/Public Light.” In 2010 Mischa undertook a major public space commission for the new Centre Pompidou-Metz and last year for “Nuit Blanche” in Toronto he created a temporary light performance and intervention through working with local tradespeople lowered down the side of a skyscraper.

European curator Peter Weibel comments that Kuball’s “light installations do not intervene in a neutral way in public space. Instead, they accentuate public space as a political and social space.” “Kuball is not a painter of light; Kuball is a conceptual artist of light, a political artist of light - a unique and important stance.”

Mischa will be visiting Christchurch later this month on a site visit with SCAPE 7 Curator Blair French. Blair says that ”it is with great pleasure that we welcome Mischa to Christchurch.” He continues, “I have been fortunate to be able to pursue an extended conversation with Mischa over recent years ranging across ideas, projects and locations. But in the last two years in particular we have always returned to the situation in Christchurch – a city he has visited previously – and the ways in which artists might possibly work to generate new forms and experiences within the context of civic rebuilding. This visit will be a wonderful opportunity to continue with these discussions and develop ideas in dialogue with a range of people and organisations locally.”

During his visit, Mischa will give a free public talk to which everyone is welcome. This is a rare opportunity to hear a pioneer in the artistic use of light discuss his previous work, current practice and the potential for light works in Christchurch.

The free public talk will be held on 23 August at 6pm at DL Lecture Theatre, CPIT, Christchurch (Access is via the D. Block Quad). Further information is available at www.scapebiennial.org.nz/MischaKuball

Mischa Kuball’s website: www.mischakuball.com

ENDS

© Scoop Media