Veit Stratmann

For Museum Folkwang, Franco-German artist Veit Stratmann is developing the interactive intervention Modules/Essen. The mobile objects invite visitors to try out and explore how they might be used.

In his spatial works, Veit Stratmann responds to the architecture and function of public buildings and plazas, though his objects and installations are often not immediately recognisable as artistic interventions. At the invitation of Museum Folkwang the artist has realised a piece for the intermediate spaces of the new building (foyer, courtyard walkways, passages between the new and old buildings) that offers visitors alternative ways of experiencing the museum space. Not only do movement and perception play a role here, but also the playful exploration of the forms developed by the artist.

Stratmann used galvanised iron and sheet iron to create Modules/Essen. The seats on castors are joined together in pairs by means of a movable horizontal bar. They vary in seat height and the colour of the circular seat areas, with each height being assigned a certain colour: 19 cm/green (child’s chair); 30 cm/yellow (stool); 45 cm/blue (chair); 70 cm/red (bar stool). There are five each of these four versions, which are variously combined to form a total of ten modules. The modules are conceived as interactive objects and can be used and moved in the intermediate spaces of the new building. Veit Stratmann sees the foyer as a transit space in which visitors can adapt their behaviour and expectations in relation to the museum and actively prepare themselves for their artistic encounter. By installing the modules in the museum foyer, it remains unclear what purpose they actually serve. It is important to Stratmann that the Modules/Essen are not immediately identified as art; this results in their use having a larger impact. Indeed, the interactive gesture of moving precedes aesthetic perception. Not only do the differing seat heights and changing locations allow visitors to experience various perspectives of architecture and art; they also focus attention on the spatial (and non-spatial) relationships between visitors.

Veit Stratmann considers the following: “The question arises as to what the actual work is. Are the modules art, the modules and the observers, or is it the behaviour of observers to one another, or perhaps the relationship between observers and modules to the space, or the potential choreography that thus arises?”

Veit Stratmann (b. 1960, Bochum) lives and works in Paris. His work is on show around the world both in exhibitions and in the public space. In Germany he most recently realised a spatial installation in Berlin entitled THE L’AQUILA PROJECT & A HILL (2013).

Artist Talk:
„Die Objekte fragen, was mache ich hier eigentlich?“
So, 7. 7., 15 Uhr
Event in German language
Veit Stratmann and Hans-Jürgen Lechtreck will talk about the new work Module/Essen. Free entry.