Roman Signer in the Kunsthaus Zug

The works that were on display in the Kunsthaus Zug on Saturday are the latest works by Roman Signer and have never been displayed in Switzerland before. The action artist tests what it's like to fly a drone through a car and make a lawnmower react to  with a a bell.
 

A minibus drives through thepicturesque landscape of Appenzellerland. The camera focuses on the interior of the car, however. In the back sits Swiss action artist Roman Signer - now 81 years old - who lets a drone fly in front of him. It is not easy to keep it on course, but Signer succeeds – with a helmet on his head and both hands on the control panel. Until the ride is finished, and the drone crashes.

It’s difficult to know what to think: American drone pilots who suddenly have to physically accompany their drones on their mission? It’s always like this with Signers works; they explain themselves just enough to stimulate the imagination. He had originally planned to carry out the drone flight in a helicopter - perhaps a Super Puma - reveals Signer at the presentation of his exhibition, “but nobody wanted to take part in that”. Was doing this from the minibus actually legal? “Probably not”, he says with a shrug, “but that’s art.”

Silent aspects in the life of the artist

The second major individual exhibition of Signer, following that in 2009, contains two video projections. At the artist’s request, the other walls remain white. And the installations – sometimes big, sometimes small - take place in the respective interspace. The one video shows the drone ride, while Signer can be seen lighting gunpowder in a barrel in the other. There is a ball and a drone on the barrel. It was surprising how peacefully the drone landed, despite the explosion, concludes Signers. The motto of the internationally acclaimed action artist from Appenzell was once described as “Crash, bump, bang!”.

According to Kunsthaus director Matthias Haldemann, the current exhibition above all shows the silent aspects in Signer's life, however. For example, there is a lawnmower robot that runs to and fro within a staked-out area. And you can also watch this from the street through the window. A bell hangs in the middle. You’d already become accustomed to the sonorous sounds when the robot then hits the bell. You briefly cringe. What was that? Maybe a sign of transience? Because this, the processual, is also what the exhibition stands for, according to Haldemann - in harmony with the museum, which is also in a state of flow. There are also six kayaks that have an adventurous journey behind them. Signer let them fly over the Rhine Valley.

These are works from Signer that have not been exhibited in Switzerland before, but can now be seen in Zug. Signer has a close link with Zug in any case.  Christine Kamm-Kyburz and Peter Kamm lived here. Thanks to the generous donations of the now deceased collectors and through donations by the artist himself, the Kunsthaus has a comprehensive collection of Signers. You can also experience his walk-in sculpture "Seesicht" in Zug.

‘Quiet, or just meticulous?’ you ask yourself at Signer's current exhibition. He moves between chaos and order. “The order in chaos”, as he himself says. An example of this is the round room, the finale of the exhibition: Signer has had a rail installed along the wall, and he attached the spray can to a tyre so that a clear pattern appeared on the wall. Or the two umbrellas that Signer put together in Iceland. Being not connected, they flew away immediately.

No fear of colours

Drones can be seen again and again in the exhibition, for example with paintbrushes, creating pictures with splashes of colour. "Who's afraid of red, yellow and blue?" is the name of a famous picture by Barnett Newman. "Not me," says Signer. Paint spots in these colours are therefore to be seen. The pictures were created in Antwerp. He often used to use helicopters as tools, Signer explains. But drones would also offer many more uses. At some point you could go up into the mountains, and, if something happened, a drone would come by within a very short time with the right syringe.

With this example, you think back to the minibus, and how Signer meticulously ensured that the drone flew in a confined space, neither too low nor too high. His art has already left traces.

The exhibition can be seen in the Kunsthaus Zugfrom 25. May to the 15. September.

VRoman Signer with one of his current installations in the Kunsthaus Zug: he lets the six kayaks fly through the air from a helicopter (Photo: Stefan Kaiser, Zug, 23. May 2019)