Artists Information
Through his work, Florian Bach produces two different forms of intervention. The first consists in situating an installation in such a way that it is essentially restricted to interpretation within its context, and functions as a guide to understanding. The works produced within this framework are transient; they rarely outlast the place and the time for which they were constructed. The second form of intervention focuses on fittings and objects that have been torn from their context and are out of place within the exhibition space. His objects are often fitted with grips or handles, which act to bring the spectator’s focus onto the antagonism of the object within its current context – the carrying devices suggest the possibility of constant movement, as well as the experience and exploration of the object’s own history. Bach’s installations address the issue of the modular environment and the concept of «territory», thereby commenting on the indeterminate nature of the things. The spectrum of possible reflections on the concept of «territory» implies boundaries – physical and intellectual limitations such as identity, exile, exclusion, insecurity, and the collective as well as the individual memory. Bach’s works aim to make us aware of the loss of ideals, and of the levelling-out of social and political opinions.
«substrat.01 – oberfläche.struktur»
Florian Bach was born in 1975 in Geneva, and lives and works in Geneva and Berlin.
substrat.01 – oberfläche.struktur
In 2001, the substrat exhibition series in Berlin put on display for the first time a number of current viewpoints in contemporary art. oberfläche.struktur brought together and juxtaposed five separate artistic approaches - Florian Bach's installation work, Franziska Furter's drawings, Nicole Hassler's painting, Valentin Hitz's film/installation work, and Jean-Thomas Vannotti's painting. All the artists are Swiss and spent time in Berlin as scholarship holders on a 3 to 12-month studio residency. In the «substrat.01 - oberfläche.struktur» exhibition, they have displayed new works created during this period.
The exhibition was supported by the Swiss Embassy in Berlin, the Fonds Cantonal de Décoration et d'Art Visuel Genève, the Département de l'Instruction Publique et des Affaires Culturelles Neuchâtel, the Zug Kulturstiftung Landis & Gyr, and the Verband Schweizer Weinexporteure SWEA.
Florian Bach presented his work «The dream is over», an installation assembled inside the exhibition space from recycled cardboard and cable ties, forming a self-contained, fragile chamber. The hermetic installation addresses concepts of demarcation and containment, comments on the indefinableness of things and their limits, and draws attention to the loss of ideals and the levelling-out of social and political opinions. In order to remove the work from the exhibition space, it had to be destroyed.
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| Cell (2001) Installation Recycled cardboard, plastic cable ties |
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| Selected work | |
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| Cell (2001) Installation (detail) Recycled cardboard, plastic cable ties (Detail) |
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| Selected work | |
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| Cell (2001) Installation (detail) Recycled cardboard, plastic cable ties (Detail) |
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