卡斯滕·尼古拉
קרסטן ניקולאי
カールステン·ニコライ

Unidisplay

source: artsynet

Upon the death of “Father of Video Art” Nam June Paik in 2007, Carsten Nicolai paid homage to his predecessor with work that recalls the late artist’s television distortions of the ’60s. Back then, a curious Paik held a horseshoe-shaped magnet to the top of a television set to experiment with the electromagnetic waves on his screen; it was only the beginning of his long career of manipulating the image (see the fascinating video about his Wobbulator device, at right).

Since 2007, Nicolai has lost little momentum in his video pursuits, and currently, his crt mgn—short for cathode ray tube, and magnet—is installed at Galerie EIGEN + ART, Berlin, where a series of neon tubes transfers light to a television screen that is manipulated by a magnet swinging on a pendulum. Paik surely would have been proud.

On view at Galerie EIGEN + Art Berlin through May 18, 2013, and as part of Gallery Weekend Berlin.
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source: carstennicolaide

curriculum vitae

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: carstennicolaide

the installation unidisplay offers an examination of semiotics and the laws of perception. the work operates with a number of modules of different visual effects that interfere with the viewers’ perception, through optical illusion, jitter, flicker, after-image, movement, complementary colour effect, and so on. the installation unfolds against a long projection wall with two mirror walls on the side thus visually expanding like a universe. the basic visual, made up of sequences, motifs and graphic translations of various units of time measurement acts as a world clock and evokes the intertwining of time, between past, present and future. the installation is created with derivatice’s touchdesigner software which has been used for alva noto live performances with a triple-screen projection.
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source:

Carsten Nicolai azzera tutto, pone lo spettatore al buio, in uno spazio composto da una lunga panca, uno schermo lungo quasi 40 metri, specchi che riflettono e dilatano le immagini, suoni. Tutto questo per collocarci/concentrarci in un contesto di attenzione e percezione di fronte agli stimoli che Carsten proietta sullo schermo, piccole variazioni digitali, correlate da suoni minimal, effetti sonori che suggerisco, sottolineano le frequenze visive, le idee tecnologiche che appaiono, si ripetono sullo schermo, e ritornano nell’ “archivio” generando un altro nuovo percorso visivo.
Molto interessante l’interazione tra lo spazio enorme dell’Hangar, gli spettatori che si siedono, rimangono ipnotizzati, si alzano, girano, fotografano, il “silenzio” generato dallo stupore e dalla bellezza di alcune immagini incredibilmente semplici … ma in realtà frutto di studi e ricerche da parte dell’artista. Grande attenzione all’allestimento tecnico: lo schermo, l’audio, la proiezione … per una esperienza davvero particolare. Personale e collettiva, contemporaneamente.