In the frame of his solo exhibition »Space Invader« Lukas was living and working in the exhibition space of Kunstverein Hannover. Being watched by CCTV at all times, he decided to move his whole equipment including bed, underneath the camera, outside its picture frame. A wooden staircase was then constructed on the opposite side of the space, lifting the viewer about 3,5 meters above ground. On top, a small screen displayed the live view of the CCTV camera that was depicting the viewer from the back. However, nothing of Lukas’ studio was seen in the picture frame – the viewer seemed to be alone in the room. Being inspired by Bruce Naumans closed circuit installations, Lukas created a hierarchical imbalance between himself, who was living and working inside the space all along, the viewers and the institution. In the context of the exhibition he was the one to be looked at, to be kept under surveillance, which he aimed to emphasise by constructing this »Watchtower« for guests. However, viewers would soon recognise themselves as still being watched by a higher instance – one that is hiding behind the curtain of a CCTV camera who’s eyes the artist already succeeded to escape by living underneath its radar. 

Photos by Volker Crone

Watchtower

A winding staircase that is part of the interior of the museum, bends itself towards the fl oor. Steel profi les point out of the wall, that used to hold the pedestal to which the staircase led and which allowed access to a door at the upper half of the room. This pedestal is now leaning at a pillar in the center of the space. This »Rewinding staircase« takes a functional object and transforms it into a sculpture. The stair elements descend like rotor blades towards the middle of the exhibition space.

Photos by Rüdiger Lubricht

Rewinding Staircase

Two partly dismantled motorbikes face each other. Their hectic honking and the aggressive pulling of the ignition remain a failing attempted rapprochement: None of their motors is ever been turned on. Both vehicles are exposed to a different movement inevitably, which’s consistent progress seems to have removed some of their parts already: Their own decay.

The horn, a universal sign of warning, becomes a mono-vocabulary language: A primitive dialogue is suggested that humanizes the mopeds, providing a dystopian picture: Disintegrating machines face each other as human equivalents in a social encounter, against their nature in restraint to standstill – Yet connected by their distant, disharmonious dialogue, that is based on warning signals. 


Ghostriders

A winding staircase that is part of the interior of the museum, bends itself towards the space. Steel profiles point out of the wall, that used to hold the pedestal to which the staircase led and which allowed access to a door at the upper half of the room. This pedestal is now leaning at a pillar in the center of the space. 

This “rewinding staircase” takes a functional object and transforms it to a sculpture. The stair elements move like rotor blades at descent towards the middle of the exhibition space. 


Intervention of the ambient lighting of the exhibition space. Lights sequentially turned off and on form a shadow that moves through the space. Additionally speakers are installed enhancing the movement of the shadow acoustically. A computer generates the properties of the shadow (e.g. size, speed, …) via random algorithm and remix the sound accordingly.

Ékleipsis

The short film Hive is a collaboration between three artists, who are currently quarantined in the artist residence facility of Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. The self-isolation by the french law contributed a variety of restrictions that were the challenging base for this ongoing project. 

Yet, Hive does thematise the current situation metaphorically at most. The psychological journey of the protagonist speaks of the world beyond the confinement: stipulations of social roles, productivity, nationality are invisible walls that will not leave with the quarantine prescribed by law. We are involuntarily born into social schemes that we voluntarily appropriate. And yet we live in the name of and praise individual freedom — 

This short film is directed and produced by Nina Traub and Lukas Zerbst. The original music was composed and recorded by Koki Nakano. 
With kind support by Hazira and Cité Internationale des Arts.


Hive

Behind Closed Doors was a livestream performance for two local audiences as well as viewers on the Internet at the same time. It was a collage-like show in which the social media habits of the people involved were thematised and put on stage, as well as the medial staging of the hosting institution, the Kaunas Artist House.
The audience was invited to attend the collective self-presentation: an actress announced a free yoga class in which one of the two audience learned a simple choreography (four “selfie poses”), which they were later allowed to perform for the other audience. 
Finally, it was revealed to the audience that they could be watched live by a third internet audience all the time.

„You‘re acting weird when a camera is pointing at you. Authenticity is sellable on the internet, but you can‘t buy it on Amazon or eBay. The more aware we become of the fact that we are constantly acting in a global public, the more professional we become about it. We find a comfort in it - for the cost of authenticity? ”

”Numbers and Nicknames — Doesn’t matter to whom they belong. It’s Feed- back from the machine I’m feeding.”



Behind Closed Doors

Intervention at the ambient lighting of the exhibition space. Lights that are sequentially turned off and on form a shadow that moves through the space. Additionally speakers are installed enhancing the movement of the shadow acoustically. A computer generates the properties of the shadow (e.g. size, speed, …) via random algorithm and remix the sound accordingly.


By using a dismantled spiral staircase Lukas tried to arrange its elements in a way, so he could reach an area in the space that is lifted up 3 meters. The access was supposed to be easy enough to reach it without using hands.

After an “acrobatic act” and thanks to the help of two persons from the audience, Lukas reached his goal after around 45 mns. The resulting arrangement of stair elements was exhibited for the rest of the exhibition.

Sculpture of Easy Access

A structure below the ceiling of which the square shaped mineral fiberboards have been removed is being enhanced with equivalent aluminium bars: The grid is being distorted and tilted towards the floor.

Structures like these usually serve the purpose of hiding the infrastructure of a room. This subarea that keeps electrical wiring, ducts for air conditioning and the fire distinguishers, characteristically is positioned above the presentation space for art. The manipulation of the framework which describes a borderline between both of the spaces, merges the off space with the art space.

»Offspace« was created within the frame of an exhibition at Nhà Sàn Collective.


Offspace

Re-enactment of the very popular nude drawing at Vietnam University of Fine Arts in Hanoi. Four our of the overall nine ceiling-fans are extended to a height of 1,50m – 1,80m above the floor. The blades touch paper that is fixed to scaffolds lightly, draw horizontal lines or hit it. The scaffolds are aligned to the center of the room, where Lukas positioned himself as a nude model.

Lukas thematizes the general censorship of nudity in the field of arts in Vietnam, which paradoxically is a strict routine at Arts Universities. Also, he presents himself as a foreigner to the local society, as an obvious white male person, as example motif of exotisation in an environment exotic to himself. 



Autoportrait

In »Rear Windows« silhouettes of the window frames behind which the spotlights move are projected to the inner court. Viewers are eventually being put into spotlight and become protagonists involuntarily.
The light in »Rear Windows« is an expression of being observed, which emanates in the window itself. The windows are the origin of the idea of being observed, a condition of the possibility of being observed. The reference to Hitchcocks movie raises motifs of suspense or might be reminiscent of the film’s Sujet: Are viewers the ones obeserving or the ones who are obeserved? What stories come up about ourselves in this short involuntarily act in the spotlight, our short solo moment in the theater of the world?


Rear Windows

As if they had untied themselves from their industrial enclosure, neon-pipes bend away from their ceiling mounts and presumably reach for the windows - the daylight.
Despite their fragility as long glass objects, their movement seem unburdened, light as a feather. Yet, actually unmounting from the the industrial neon lamps might however be their secure death. How strong must their urge be to reach the daylight?
In a series of 8 glass sculptures filled with Argon gas, Moths were hand-manufactured by the artist in 2020 in the frame of his solo exhibition Space Invader at Kunstverein Hannover.

Moths

Above an opaque contruction below the ceiling three pairs of shoes move back and forth. A closer look reveals that their kind of movement is reminiscent of the movement of exhibitions viewers: The shadows of the shoes stop facing walls, for instance. Rest there, walk on the spot as if they were pondering about something at the wall.
However, the space in which these shoes are located, is not accessible to any viewer. In this separation that the installation Seen it All opens, comes up a feeling of dissatisfaction about not being able to see everything the exhibition has to offer.

Seen it All

A white man in white paints white walls white. Not exactly the same white, but a slightly different shade. Covered up as pragmatic gesture of casual spacial cosmetic, the performance An Other White happens within an already open exhibition. Its score determines precise guidelines for the quality of the job, as well as potential conversations with guests. For instance, the paint is put on the walls in a dilettante fashion, and the performer is not an artist, but someone who was engaged to do this job.
The fact that An Other White might be overseen as an artistic intervention, is symptomatic for the problem that it addresses: It is a kind of public Whitewashing of an already White Space – As Action, or maybe as solidary protest, it is only valid as long as it happens. Afterwards, the walls will be simply white, without an comparison one will not see a difference. In the end the action didn’t make a difference.
Are we, as artists, doing enough to engage ourselves with our art for better conditions and equal rights for all people? The answer this performance gives is always: No.

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Lukas Zerbst

Watchtower

Rewinding Staircase

Ghostriders

Rewinding Staircase

Ékleipsis

Hive

Behind Closed Doors

Ékleipsis

Sculpture of Easy Access

Offspace

Autoportrait

Rear Windows

Moths

Seen it All

An other White

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