See You When I See You (Act II), 2025
Solo Show at Kunstraum Remise, Bludenz / AT
November 7 - December 27, 2025
Curated by Anne Zühlke on behalf of Luka Jana Berchtold
Every high is an invitation to limbo—to the place in between. Between genius and psychosis, past and future. „To die“, was pop icon Lady Gaga´s answer when she was asked in an interview in 2022 what she would do if she could do something dangerous just once without risk. In See You When I See You (Act II), Clemens Tschurtschenthaler explores the fascination with the ritual and religious transitions between eras of life and states of consciousness. He reproduces the luring power of sacral architecture and its symbols, as well as the anarchic energy of trance. The gloomily lit space creates a place that confronts the viewer with the ambivalences between deliberate loss of control and structures of order and Tschurtschenthaler's narrative sculptures. While „space“ is a neutral, three-dimensional continuum, a „place“ is a specific location associated with cultural or social significance.
The sensory impressions triggered by the works reinforce patterns of perception that are shaped by the experience of the loop. This has long since become a symptom of the present, which contemplates itself in permanent repetition. Even in the ritual cultures of antiquity and in the sacral practices of various religions, repetition served as a means of transcendence, of dissolution of the self in rhythm. Along the blurred boundaries between original, copy, commentary, and reference, the works on display address themes such as desire, temptation, melancholy, and longing in an endless loop. The kinetic sculpture fontana (Rausch) (2025) combines elements of Greek temple architecture, constructed from MDF, floral components, and the symbolism of water, always considered a symbol of transformation. While a water bowl slowly rotates on a pedestal, the water appears motionless and detached from the scenery. Continuing the exploration of the seductive and transformative power of sound, first shown in his work LIMBUS (2024), the soundsystem installation Tracklist, TypeBeat, Monument (2025) rises opposite like an altar. The three sound pieces Lamento, Portal and Im Nebel (2025) are played in a strict, monotonic interval during the opening hours of the exhibition space, emphasizing the loop as the central element in rituals.
In the digital age, the loop is the aesthetic principle of an era in which progress has become simulation. While loops were groundbreaking innovations in the field of music production and crucial to the emergence of hip hop and techno, postmodern thinkers such as Jean Baudrillard, Gilles Deleuze, and Mark Fisher already recognized the permanent repetition of aesthetic trends as a symptom of stagnation. The loop, once a tool of collective euphoria, reflects a modern era that revolves endlessly around its own image. Like frozen film stills, the four „Tondi“ (Swarm, Dog Race, Shepherd, Reins, 2025) point to the unfulfilled potential of collective movement. The exhibition space becomes a time capsule, the white cube an endless loop of experience—a place where the cultural history of the loop, from ritual ecstasy to meaningless repetition, is transformed into sculptural presence.
Exhibition text by Anne Zühlke
Soundpiece played in strict 15 minute intervals during the opening hours of the exhibition space.
Schedule and tracklist:
3:00 pm | 3:15 | 3:30 | 3:45 | … | 5:45 pm
01 - Portal (3:18 min.)
02 - Lamento (4:30 min.)
03 - Im Nebel (2:42 min.)
04 - 4:30 minutes of silence
With the kind support of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano / IT
Tondo Reins, 2025
medium-density fibreboard
27 x 27 cm
fontana (Rausch), 2025
particle boards, aluminum (cold blued, waxed), plastic flowers (faux bouquets), water, rotary motor (2 rpm)
174 x 174 x 38 cm
Tondo Swarm, 2025
medium-density fibreboard
25,5 x 25,5 cm
Tondo Dog Race, 2025
medium-density fibreboard
26,5 x 26,5 cm
Tracklist, TypeBeat, Monument, 2025
carpet intarsia, PA-system, media player, sound composition (15:00 min.)
Dimensions variable
Tondo Shepherd, 2025
medium-density fibreboard
26 x 26 cm
