Art-Breaks in Public Space

From upper left to lower right: Haubitz+Zoche (Munich): 2027 ART+COM (Berlin): Reactive Sparks Diana Thater (Los Angeles): OFF WITH THEIR HEADS Mader/Stublic/Wiermann (Berlin): reprojected Copyright: OSRAM ART PROJECTS, photographers: Haubitz+Zoche, Stephan Kausch, Mader/Stublic/Wiermann

In late 2006, the project, SEVEN SCREENS, a platform for digital art projects in pubic space, was established in Munich. Seven light stelae- situated on one of the main arteries of this major German city- are equipped with state of the art LED technology. They create the site-specific context for temporary projects, which probe the most varied interactive, media and artistic concepts in an urban setting. The artistic concept of a variable platform within a clearly defined and permanent framework is what renders the SEVEN SCREENS unique in the world of art in public space. Since their construction, Munich has had a new landmark.

The format of the SEVEN SCREENS places high demands on artists: The individual stele can be interpreted as a fragment (of a vision field), as an autonomous image carrier, as a monument (in the sense of a sculpture) or as an architectural element. As an ensemble the seven stelae refuse to provide the viewer with an ideal vantage point: There is no spot from which the seven image screens can be fitted together to form a whole. It is the viewer's own perception- insofar as the specific works allow for this- that enable the individual image elements to appear as a closed entity.

Two internationally acclaimed video artists have developed an installation for the SEVEN SCREENS in Munich for 2008: Anouk de Clercq, a Belgian artist, who unites different art forms, such as images, texts, music, animation and architecture, in her video works, and Bjørn Melhus, a Berlin video artist, whose favored materials are the television films and series that influenced his childhood in the 1970s.

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