share

Out of interest in their complex geometries and transformation in time and space, Sandra Kranich has used fireworks in her sculptures, pictures, and installations since the late 1990s. Pyrotechnics are momentary and sensational spectacles that divide our perception into the clear stages of before, during, and after. They are events lasting a few minutes that engrave themselves in the memory of spectators, yet generally remain visible as mere traces and remnants in exhibitions. Within the framework of museum or gallery spaces, Kranich’s practice criticizes a logic based on stability, referring instead to the moment of change and chance. Her works blur the lines between creation and destruction, construction and deconstruction. For the 32^nd Bienal, Kranich developed a series of works – R. Relief 7, 8, 9, 10 (2016) and Times Wire (2010) – one being a series of knitted pictures made of electric wire, and the other a series of colorful geometrical metal pictures. Both have been propped with explosives carefully connected to each other for an ignition choreographed by the artist. The fireworks as such occur at the opening of the exhibition, confronting the viewer with a presentation clearly marked by the transformative force of the explosion.