Reminiscences – from Ovid to the Bauhaus Many of the stereoscopic works were commissioned by museums and festivals. Combined with a more or less implicit invitation to take a closer look at works from collections or specific themes, this resulted in works with a wide-ranging network of cultural-historical references to literature, the arts and music spanning different eras and media – often in relation to the architecture of the respective locations. Figures from Ovid's Metamorphoses appear repeatedly, and Mannerist motifs from the 17th century, such as those by Jan Saenredam or Giovanni Battista Bracelli, are taken up and linked to modern artistic approaches. The musical spectrum is also broad, ranging from re-staged polyphonic early modern chants to contemporary electroacoustic sounds. The shadows do not serve to simply recharge narratives with a different stylistic device, but rather to play with the narratives and repeatedly break with them in sometimes surprising ways.
ⓘ 2-chanel-video 1080p, ca. 13:40 Min., partial 2-channel sound
Sun on Stage (2019) With its unique combination of art, architecture and design, the Bauhaus is still considered a pioneer among art schools today. Inspired by this pioneering spirit of design, Roth incorporates various artistic approaches on a virtual shadow stage and develops the work Sun on Stage, consisting of seven thematic movements. This restaging advocates a type of shadow that has increasingly fallen out of favour in modern times, despite all the euphoria for artificial light that also prevailed at the Bauhaus: the natural light of the sun. Elaborate computer renderings make it possible for the first time to use this special light with its parallel beam path in a creative way. The 3 x 10.50 metre projection not only invites visitors to rediscover central motifs of the Bauhaus in a shadowy guise. At the same time, it encourages them to explore a completely different form of perspective in the light of the artificial sun.
![In 'Schattenräderwerk' [engl. shadow wheelwork] disks from Moholy-Nagy's kinetic sculpture 'Light Prop for an Electric Stage' rotating at different speeds
create a dynamic shadow composition.](bilder/bauhaus/adk/press/shadowprop_sunonstageAdK6087_II_800px.jpg)
Skiasophical Turn The shadow theatre developed by Tim Otto Roth as a commissioned work for the opening festival of the jubilee takes up ideas from Bauhaus aesthetics and gives various geometric motifs a whole new dimension through a shadow-morphotic interplay of space. Numerous allusions can be spotted, such as Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack's colour light play, Oskar Schlemmer's stage design concept, which critically reflects on the classic proscenium stage, or Moholy-Nagy's light prop for electronic stages (later also referred to as a 'light-space modulator'). The dynamic abstract surfaces in Hans Richter's film Rhythmus 21 take a surprising 'skiasophical' spatial turn. However, the theoretical considerations of Theo van Doesburg echo in the play with four-dimensional bodies such as the hypercube. The scenes are repeatedly broken up ironically, not only through their representation as shadows, but also through the deliberate smuggling in of motifs foreign to the Bauhaus and the occasional background music, in which, among other things, the marching of paramilitary units echoes menacingly.
A commissioned work for 100 jahre bauhaus. Das Festival
Artistic Director: Bettina Wagner-Bergelt
ⓘ video 1080p, 2:13 min. (continuous loop), no sound
Obstruction (2016) With this video work, Tim Otto Roth presents a piece in the exhibition Light from the Other Side at the Goethe Institute Forum in Washington, D.C., in which he explores installation art by his skiagraphic method for the first time. In this homage to the artist Man Ray, he has virtually recreated Ray's 1920 mobile Obstruction, which consists of interlocking coat hangers. The shadows of the mobile not only begin to slowly rotate, but also appear to be almost within reach thanks to his special technique.
