26th Biennial of São Paulo
September 25 - December 19, 2004

Leo Schatzl: Autorotation São Paulo

in cooperation with David Moises & Severin Hofmann

German
Português

Presspics

An automobile suspended by 200 rubber expander bands in a metal construction kit is repeatedly made to rotate – this is one succinct description of the elaborate installation Autorotation that Leo Schatzl has created in conjunction with David Moises and Severin Hofmann for the 26th Biennial in Sao Paulo. Behind the piece are Schatzl's long years spent analyzing the phenomenon of speed and its impact on so-called fixed bodies. Autorotation is in any case the artist’s most recent series on this theme, on which he and his colleagues have been working for the past two years.

For Autorotation Schatzl developed a “building kit” consisting of some 40 perforated metal plates of different lengths (2 to 6.25 meters) along with connecting elements such as screws, flanges and corner pieces. He thus took up the idea of the metal construction kit that was invented in the late 19th century, reflecting the fascination people at that time had for the new steel building techniques and engineering achievements. For almost a century these kits made up a major segment of the toy industry – one need only recall names like Meccano, Trix or Märklin. However - and this is where the artist made a critical “intervention” – the construction kit here has been magnified to 25 times its normal size. The easy-to-handle construction kit from childhood has become an “over-lifesized” model building kit weighing nearly 8 tons.
Putting the pieces of the kit together to build a support system for Autorotation is not the only way they can be used. The construction kits can be universally adaptable basic elements and connectors one could build any number of completely different structures.

But as for the car, which as “rotator” is still the central focus of the piece, the dimensional shifts during rotation yield very specific attributes and overlapping meanings:
As a mobile living space, the automobile has an impact on many aspects of our daily lives. As a social “super symbol” it stands for individual mobility, technical progress, social status and a means for exercising power. This symbolic function applies in a special way to the VW Beetle. Thanks to its technically simplified construction in accordance with the maxim “robust, long-lasting and good,” it evolved in postwar Germany into a mass market product with an unmatched low price: into a true “Volks-Wagen” (people’s car), a symbol of the “rise” of the generation of the economic miracle. The outsourcing of production to South and Central America in the latter half of the 70s, with the resultant unbeatable price-performance ratio, led to a massive spread of the car model there as well. Unlike in Europe, the “fusca”, as the car is lovingly referred to in Brazil, remains in use on the streets today as an inexpensive consumer article “for one and all.”

These cultural connotations and background also play a role in the Autorotation in Sao Paulo, but are overlaid with other, if one will, more mechanical/technical and playful aspects. The symmetrical body of the VW Beetle and its bell-shaped form make it ideally suited for a “circular” motion. The graphic design of the vehicle body and the oversized test arrangement help to underscore the test-like and game-like character of the installation. As an artwork Autorotation can hence be read on various levels of reference: as an oversized construction kit that makes a “real” car into a giant toy; as an ironic test station for parascientific rotation experiments, which are conducted by hand, or simply as a transformative sculpture (material: perforated metal, car, rubber ropes), in which the car is literally lifted out of its everyday context, without any kind of sentimental aftertaste.
In any case, however, the absurdly wasteful aesthetic of the installation makes it perfectly clear that it has nothing to do with either a directly applicable purpose, or with any didactic intention. The game is understood as an important model of human cognition, as an expression of a form of living and thinking that is not dedicated to utility. Behind this all is the insight that in order to be creative, the mind must know how to play (Bredekamp).

Leo Schatzl / short biography :
Born 1957 in Obernberg/Inn (Upper Austria),
lives and works in Vienna

1980-1987 studied at the Art University in Linz (masterclass Visual Design, masterclass Metalworking). Collaboration with various artist associations (Stadtwerkstatt, Independent Films Linz...) and artist groups.

Since 1992 teaches (Intermedia Laboratories) at the Art University Linz.

Since 2001 collaboration with Severin Hofmann and David Moises on the Autorotation
David Moises, born 1973 in Innsbruck, lives and works in Vienna, studied at the Art University in Linz and the Humboldt University Berlin
Severin Hofmann, born 1973, studied at the Art University in Linz; 2003 atelier scholarship Cité des Arts Paris

Website: www.taboo.at