Andreas Greiner
spring forward fall back
11. April – 8. Juni 2014

Lichthaus Arnsberg presents the first institutional solo exhibition by Andreas Greiner.

"Spring forward fall back" is an English expression and play on words to which the artist Andreas Greiner refers in Lichthaus Arnsberg. To mark the blossoming spring, he is developing a project together with the plants and insects around the Lichthaus. Spring fever and reproduction are just some of the aspects of the exhibition in the Lichthaus, which Greiner will inhabit for a week. His bed will not be able to revitalise the light house, which has been uninhabited by humans up to now, as it is already inhabited by numerous insect species. Instead, he wants to leave the stage to the indigenous inhabitants.

Andreas Greiner (*1979), Julian Charrière (*1987) and Julius von Bismarck (*1983) are producing works on site, which can be seen in the Lichthaus, the Kunstverein and on Neumarkt. The interlinking of the positions is based on shared interests in nature, physics and technology, which inspire them to create various process-orientated works and experiments. The simultaneous presentation of the three artists reveals an artistic genre based on the dialogue between man and nature. This results in actions, performances, sculptures and inventions of all kinds, which create unusual scenarios with ideas and humour.

The exhibition in the Lichthaus is organised by the Cultural Office of the City of Arnsberg in cooperation with the Kunstverein Arnsberg.

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Andreas Greiner. Spring forward fall back

by Ursula Ströbele

For a period of seven weeks from 11 April to 8 June 2014, Andreas Greiner transformed the Kunstverein Arnsberg's Lichthaus into a biotopic laboratory consisting of leafy and budding plants, individual pieces of furniture and various insects. Together with these "co-authors", as he calls them, he lived in the glass pavilion for a week in spring. "Spring forward fall back", the title of the exhibition, is an English expression that refers to the seasonal time change that takes place twice a year. The cyclical course of any form of life is expressed here, as is Greiner's attempt to create an organic interior that demonstrates its own rhythm to the viewer. Butterflies and flies, "the emblem of the ephemeral" par excellence, hatched from the caterpillars and larvae used at the beginning; likewise, crawling and flying creatures from the immediate surroundings gradually took over the walk-in space that had mutated into an artistic artefact.

The works of the Berlin-based artist and master student of Olafur Eliasson are characterised by his interest in scientific and biological phenomena, organisms such as bioluminescent bacteria and algae that light up in the dark when they move by means of photosynthesis. Similar to a scientific laboratory, Greiner creates the decisive conditions for the respective setting and then leaves it up to the - only partially auto-generative - work to "act" on its own. The complex background knowledge and years of "field research" required for its realisation can be guessed at - the artist acts as a gardener and entomologist tracing the secrets of life. With this clear departure from the statuary object in favour of countless, processually changing living sculptures, Greiner, who originally studied sculpture in Florence, questions the classic idea of sculpture, but also of the autonomous, singular creator, and encourages a deeper reflection on our understanding of nature between seemingly untouched wilderness and domesticated landscape.