The artist Gerwald Rockenschaub has developed a 5-channel installation for the Sammlung Goetz

Geometric forms flicker across the screen like a menacing fire. This image is accompanied by a minimalistic electric sound. Although Gerwald Rockenschaub’s new 5-channel installation diverted / accelerated / no secrets round-up (2020) is limited to a few geometric elements in black and white, it nonetheless opens up an entire universe of artistic expression. In contrast to radical minimal art, the Austrian artist, born in 1952, has never disassociated himself from popular culture, but instead has sought a cross-over between art, design, media and everyday life from the start of his career. He liberated the concept of minimalism from its rigid rules and has used it to create his own “funky minimal” style.

Rockenschaub made his first animations in the 1990s when he staged techno parties in various Viennese locations. As a large-format multi-channel installation, he first presented one of these in an art context in 2004 as part of his exhibition at MUMOK in Vienna. The new 5-channel installation diverted / accelerated / no secrets round-up (2020) for the Sammlung Goetz is the first of his cinematic works for which Rockenschaub composed his own audio on the computer. The different sound sequences evoke associations with techno without referring to specific models. They follow an imaginary rhythm of simple to more complex structures, which also develop visually in the five projections.

The Sammlung Goetz, which has notable collection of the artist’s works – spanning from his early paintings, created in the 1980s, to his current image objects made of acrylic glass and lacquered MDF boards – dedicated a large solo exhibition to the artist in 2017. Rockenschaub’s early paintings depict non-representational motifs reminiscent of logos or pictograms. The artist completely abandoned painting later on and began creating works out of industrial materials such as acrylic, PVC and aluminum. His works created on the computer are executed by specialist companies according to his direction.

In addition to having developed an independent artistic position, Rockenschaub also worked as an internationally successful DJ. Art and music enter into a fruitful symbiosis with him. This crossover is also evident in the 5-channel installation, which the artist designed especially for the Sammlung Goetz and which fruitfully complements both Rockenschaub’s oeuvre and the collection's media inventory.