After the two great solo-exhibitions “anti reflex” at the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt and “syn chron” at the Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin in 2005, Carsten Nicolai is now presenting his recent work in the exhibition “inver” at Galerie EIGEN + ART / Leipzig.
The show in Leipzig can be regarded as a continuation of his examination of polarities: In Frankfurt it has been a black and a white room as an embodiment of the poles “reflex” and “anti”. In Leipzig it is the reduction to a black and white spot.
The surface of the black spot will absorb almost any light. It is with its 99,7 % light absorption the darkest Black existing on the market at the moment.
Carsten Nicolai is also using a laser to project a white spotlight, which is standing in such a contrast to the Black that it will be hard to be seen by the human eye. Carsten Nicolai is not just interested in the polarities of reflection and absorption but also in the in-between, the transitions. Like many of the developed installations by Carsten Nicolai during the last couple of years,”inver” is giving a multilayered approach of interpretation, which allows philosophical, scientific and sensual aspects to interweave.
The installation “inver” is also breaking the development towards growing materialization such as “syn chron”. The work “inver” reflects a complete reduction, similar to a distillate of the artworks before and is renouncing at the same time a new step in the bodywork of Carsten Nicolai.
Thanks to Dr. Richard J C Brown (National Physical Laboratory Super Black) and Jenoptic Laser.Optic Systems (Jenlas® White Light)