ARTIST STATEMENT
My practice is defined by site specific performances and interventions, which refer to the global space, which I consider as one entity without any borders. I study the things I am interested in by direct observation, often using photography and film as a means of documentation. From my observations and theoretical research about space, ideas arise, which I transform into actual formal expression, resulting in artistic artifacts of any media, and often manifest in what I call a theory-based-immediate-reaction towards a given space. I see space as an entity to listen and to react to, rather than something to use at will. During my time at the ArtScience Interfaculty I might have become sort of an anti-architect, someone who is not filling space with things, but embracing space to leave it as it is, and emphasizing its existence. I initiate events-in-space, exploring how we could experience space as such.
Alexander J. Heil 2020
SHORT BIO
Alexander Johannes Heil (born 1986 in Hamburg, Germany) received his B.Sc. in Architecture with a focus on architecture-theory and -design in 2017 at the Technical University Berlin. He is currently a master student at the ArtScience Interfaculty (Royal Conservatory and Royal Academy of Art, The Hague) and obtained his master's degree (M.Mus) in summer 2020. His work has recently been shown at the Royal Academy of Art The Hague, the Royal Conservatory The Hague, in group exhibitions in The Hague, and two solo exhibitions in Berlin (2017 and 2018).
GRADUATION PROJECT
"Once the object presents itself as a complex of relationships, one must grasp it by a variety of methods."
Gaston Bachelard The New Scientific Spirit
For the graduation show 2020 I curated a series of works, using various media, to communicate my notion of Substanzraum, the space of substance, to the visitor.
Propagation Of Space, 2029 Performative spatial intervention, time: now and then, 2020
A performative intervention during the graduation show 2020 at the Royal Academy of Art The Hague. A messanger from the future is handing out flyers to visitors, propagating space as borderless entity. This work was inspired by the research by Gabriel A. Radvansky, Sabine A. Krawietz, and Andrea K. Tamplin. Walking through doorways causes forgetting: Further explorations. Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA.
Tidal Oscillation Wave Ink jet print on paper, 110cm x 500 cm, 2020
This digital drawing is created from data, which I collected during my project Going to the Beach as Artistic Research Practice (fall 2019). Over the course of 3 months, I went to the beach every day, visiting the same location, measuring air humidity, pressure and density, decibel, light, temperature, wind speed and direction, counted people and steps to the shore, and documented the intensity of the rain. The data was always collected at the borderline between land, ocean, and atmosphere. It is a true representation of my spatial concept of Substanzraum, the space of substance, and not meant to be read literally but generally, as it depicts space as it is, in constant flux and change.
A Slice Of Global Space Video 2:28 min. on loop, 2020
An abstarct rendering of the Westduinpark at the beach of The Hague, a cut out piece from the greater global space, which I consider as one space without any physical borders. In my work I often use smaller spaces (interior and exterior alike) to refer to the bigger global space.
The Westduinpark will be the physical space of my geo-located audio walk SubstanzWalk, A dreamlike AudioWalk Through The Dunes of The Hague. Space explorations with Mabel Calvert Verbruggen and Alexander Johannes Heil.
Thrown In Various Random Directions Installation with screens and speakers, sound piece composed of generated environmental sounds, field recordings and voice, 45min. on loop, 2020
A thunderstorm is approaching from afar, saturating the atmosphere with moisture, making it soft and wet. Clouds are hanging low and the sun is about to go. Lightwaves arriving from million miles away diving into this massive liquid body, scattering, thrown in various random directions, embracing your world with deep purple.
The soundpiece derives from my thesis Substanzraum, A new Approach To Global Space and will be further developped in the future towards a geo-located audio walk in the Westduinpark at the beach of The Hague. Substanzwalk, A dreamlike AudioWalk Through The Dunes of The Hague. Space explorations with Mabel Calvert Verbruggen and Alexander Johannes Heil.
THESIS
SUBSTANZRAUM, A NEW APPROACH TO GLOBAL SPACE
Substanzraum A new approach to global space.
An essay on my notion of Substanzraum, the space of substance.
keywords: (global-) space, space itself, architecture, form, shape, design-theory, phenomenology, philosophy, poetry, fiction, storytelling, poetics.
You can read the whole text on my website direct link: http://alexanderjohannes.com/alexanderjohannesheil_sanpatgs.html