卡斯滕·尼古拉
קרסטן ניקולאי
カールステン·ニコライ

unicolor

source: carstennicolaide

unicolor is a sequel of works displaying a collection of visualizations. already existing ancestors for unicolor are the works univrs/uniscope version (2010) and unidisplay (2012). the installation unidisplay offers an examination of semiotics and the laws of perception. the work unfolds against a long projection wall with two mirror walls on the side thus visually expanding like a universe, operating with a number of modules of different visual effects to interfere with the viewer’s perception.
in contrast to unidisplay the installation unicolor examines the psychology of color perception. fundamental starting points for the work are the chromatics by johann w. von goethe, as well as studies, texts and theories by scientists like hermann von helmholtz, werner heisenberg, wilhelm ostwald and the visual artist and associate professor for chromatics eckhard bendin. artistic influences of works by josef albers and johannes itten are further essential and to mention.
unicolor operates with a number of 24 modules that examine a special color perception. one module, for example, is the perception of rgb color filters that move in a high velocity sequence and visualize the process from slow to fast, thus evoking an optical effect of a grey surface in the visitor’s perception.
similar to unidisplay the work shows a compendium of each single module by experiencing each single one of them in a sequential arrangement.
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source: thevinylfactory

Audio visual artist Carsten Nicolai brings his unicolor installation to Europe for the first time.

Taking over the top floor of The Vinyl Factory space at Brewer Street Car Park, unicolor is a two-fold audio/visual experience, that takes the very essence of our experience of colour as its theme.

Confronted with 16 module experiments and test patterns that recede in infinite regress in mirrors at the peripheries of each colour field, Nicolai hopes the visitors will challenge what colours they are really seeing.

“The brain is always adding things it doesn’t really see,” Nicolai explains. “Put a very strong red next to white, and you experience an afterglow of green. With RGB, when it moves really fast, we start seeing grey. We really believe what we see – as an observer, it’s difficult to identify the illusion.”

While each module is accompanied by a frequency, the second part of the installation rests more directly with sound, as multi-coloured, uncentred vinyl records are left for people to use and play with on a bank of four turntables in the atrium of the space.

The exhibition, which runs until 2nd August is open daily (closed on Mondays) from midday until 6pm and is free to visit at Brewer Street Car Park Top Floor, London, W1F 0LA.
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source: timeout

Maybe a good way to judge the quality of a new work of art is by how many people are willing to ruin your experience by taking a selfie in front of it. By that yardstick, Carsten Nicolai’s ‘Unicolor’ is a fucking masterpiece, because you can’t look at it without some moron standing right in front of you and snapping themselves into a narcissistic aneurysm. Don’t get me wrong, everyone should enjoy art however they bloody want, just don’t make me watch you take 8,000 identically shit pictures of your ugly boyfriend when I’m trying to think big thoughts about pretty colours.

‘Unicolor’ isn’t the only work on show here. The first piece from this awesome German artist and experimental musician is just less selfie-worthy. For ‘Baisatz-Noto’, Nicolai has set up four turntables with locked groove vinyl. These neon-coloured records force the needles to loop back on themselves, making the sounds repeat endlessly. You get to speed them up, slow them down, swap them over – hey presto, you’re a DJ. The sounds are all classic Nicolai – digital hiss, bleeps and bloops – and you’re in charge. Very cool.

But no one gives a shit because they just want a picture of themselves in front of ‘Unicolor’’s amazing flashing lights. The installation is basically a long set of screens, bookended by mirrors so that everything repeats visually off into infinity. Strips of colour float down the screens, morphing as they go. Hues flip from turquoise to aquamarine, yellow to red. Suddenly it all flashes to pure white. Static pulsates gently out of overhead speakers, pitches rise and dip somewhere below you, rumbling and popping.

Nicolai isn’t trying to mess with your eyes or your sense of perception, he’s just letting you experience light and colour. It’s not overwhelming or difficult, it’s just quietly and simply beautiful. Between the head rush of glitched-out audio and the intoxicating purity of light and colour, it’s a little like drifting through all the individual components of a rainbow. You’re just sat there in an infinity of colour. Who needs to taste the rainbow when you can be in it?
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source: carstennicolaide

in his work carsten nicolai, born 1965 in karl-marx-stadt, seeks to overcome a separation of art forms and genres for an integrated artistic approach. influenced by scientific reference systems, nicolai often engages mathematic patterns such as grids and codes, as well as error, random and self-organising structures.
after his participation in important international exhibitions like “documenta x” and the “49th and 50th venice biennial”, nicolai’s works were shown in two comprehensive solo exhibitions at schirn kunsthalle frankfurt, germany (anti reflex), at neue nationalgalerie in berlin, germany (syn chron) in 2005, at haus konstruktiv, zurich (static fades) in 2007 and at cac, vilnius (pionier) in 2011. he is represented by galerie eigen + art in leipzig/berlin, the pace gallery and galleria lorcan o’neill in rome.
under the pseudonym noto carsten nicolai experiments with sound to create his own code of signs, acoustic and visual symbols. as alva noto he leads those experiments into the field of electronic music. besides performing in club and concert halls, nicolai presented his audio-visual pieces at museums like solomon r. guggenheim museum in new york, san francisco museum of modern art, centre pompidou in paris, kunsthaus graz or tate modern in london. additionally he pursues projects with diverse artists such as ryuichi sakamoto, ryoji ikeda (cyclo.), blixa bargeld (anbb), michael nyman, mika vainio or thomas knak (opto). his latest musical project with olaf bender (byetone) is called diamond version and is released on mute records.
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source: creatorsprojectcn

Carsten Nicolai的工作涉及两种对抗的力量。他通过声音和科学得到灵感，从而创作视觉，他概念化的大型作品发出梦幻般的视觉频率，最终让作品本身发声。“我希望视觉能自行表演，”他解释说。

这位装置艺术家总是用Alva Noto这个名字制作音乐，并且和他的朋友Olaf Bender共同主理厂牌Raster-Norton。这个团队的实验涉及声音，艺术和设计的融合。

Nicolai的作品总是表达出意外中紧张的内在情绪，在我们对艺术家的采访视频中（上面），他解释说在特别好的日子，小错误依然会让他的数据崩溃。”错误的元素往往成为音乐的基础，” Nicolai说，”你没法控制可能发生什么，有什么是错的，显然如此，不过它仍旧让人感到兴奋。”

在他对声音和视觉的探索中，Nicolai想要改变观众的想法。“人们觉得电子乐很冰冷，没有感情，这和人们对音乐的习惯有关。”Nicolai觉得他的一些项目能改变这种认识──他与Ryuichi Sakamoto的合作，“在其中有强烈的情绪感受”。

Carsten Nicolai的pionier I展览将要在下周五，9月23日在纽约的The Pace Gallery开展。

Nicolai一直对对比很感兴趣。“我们人类总是尝试更多可能性让机器去思考，不过同时，我们也变得越来越机械，这是很棒的，我们总是在通过很多两极化的东西表达自我。 “