Olaf Nicolai

Samani. Some Proposals to Answer Important Questions, 2008

Mixed Media
Dimensions site specific
Courtesy of Galerie EIGEN+ART, Leipzig/Berlin

Calling the choreographed movement of a pole dance into mind, a single spotlight travels robotlike along a metal pole, turning abruptly on its own axis. In the darkened room the light spot slides up and down, spins around, drifts, wiggles in smooth arabesque patterns, following elaborate applications of repeated and stochastic rhythms. The tempo is frequently altered between prestissimo and andante, with frequent breaks modulating the 5 minutes or so cycle. The rapid rotations of light produce a “spotting" of the space, a frenetic sense of being followed by a searchlight or surveillance camera. As an animated form, Samani seems to express a foreign intelligence, the schizoid split between the kinetic machine and human (gendered) subjectivity. As it solely performs its pre-programmed iridescent performativity, it defers the legitimating crisis of the agent to act in a world and thus to answer important questions.

Olaf Nicolai, *1962 Halle an der Saale