Ritual for happiness

On the one hand, the city presents us with opportunities for identification, a sense of home and familiarity. On the contrary, the pace and dynamism of urban life mean that shared realities are few and far between. People and places in the flow of the city sometimes seem to belong together, yet they do not experience or inhabit the same world. This fluidity of perception can arise from the individual personality of the observer or the ever-changing nature of the city’s appearance and use of space. Despite the harshness of the built environment, it is the sense of change that predominates. It is not the street, but movement itself that becomes the terrain. The encounter with this constant diffuseness and the densely colliding constructions of reality is overlaid by systems of signs and order in architecture and transport. In order to perceive this aesthetically, to open up interpretations of structure and to depart from pre-established guidance, the Paris-based artist Misha Gudwin explores possibilities for the decontextualisation of forms and objects through strategic walks. Through such experimental shifts in perception regarding architectural elements, technical and infrastructural shapes, and found objects in vacant lots, building ruins, and along the roadside, they reveal these constructs as carriers of meaning and symbolism for the artist’s sculptural work. Gudwin’s interdisciplinary approach began in the 2010s through exploratory forays into backyards, onto rooftops or into the city’s ‘non-places’, thereby giving him a sense of abstract participation in the city’s movements. Alternative practices of exploration and observation within the urban fabric thus reveal perspectives on individual components of a structural or spatial situation. His exploratory wanderings visually encompass forms and structures, penetrate meanings and fragment “not things, but figures of things that signify other things”¹ . This spirit of discovery challenges the notion of a clear legibility of the city, of a preconceived composability for understanding – that is, that “individual parts are recognised and pieced together into a coherent pattern”² . For Gudwin, by contrast, the urban landscape invites one to break down associations, to discover scenes and stories in concrete details, and thus to actively aestheticise one’s surroundings. The stroll unfolds in a playful yet strategic manner; it is at once sensory and demonstrates the embedding of artistic thought within the everyday. At the same time, exploring the city’s repertoire of forms teaches the artist ways of working with and mastering materials and building substances, as well as their contexts in terms of building culture. Once an external form or an overlapping scene has been dissected, Gudwin proceeds to analyse the material, function or symbolic meaning. Architectural components such as frieze ornamentation, spires or lightning conductors are imbued with subjectively attributed meanings and take on a new presence in abstracted forms as installations, sculptures or paintings. In doing so, the functional, cultural-historical or folkloric contexts of the original form are taken into account and influence the nature of the abstraction. Ultimately, the works expand through additions or by combining the elements with other objects. Consequently, Gudwin also responds to the constant flow and dispersion of the metropolis with rituals of movement. Acting as a scout for artistic material, different architectural and technicalstructures trigger the pathways and the transfer into new narratives. Building on these, the processing and further development in the studio often leads to spatial references that also influence the setting of the artist’s exhibitions. Thus, the interpretation of a figure or form taken from the street – for example, as a portal or an energetic transmitter – can direct an exhibition towards a technoid-digital aesthetic or a fairy-tale-like, occult look. The exhibition at Automat project space in Saarbrücken, shows a central piece reimagining an ornamental ridge finial or lightning conductors and hereby demonstrates how Gudwin transforms his reinterpretation of his surroundings into magical energetic objects and creates a cohesive environment. With a centrally placed spear-like sculpture featuring floral, antenna-like outgrowths, Gudwin opens up the space via a floor graphic leading to the wall objects made from found street objects. The ray and circular diagrams on the floor and wall create the impression of an energy exchange between the works and reinforce an esoteric atmosphere. The artist complements his first solo show in Germany with a mural on nearby Försterstraße, which will stay up permanently. Misha Gudwin lives and works in Paris. He’s represented by Fabula Gallery, Moscow and Voskhod Gallery, Basel. __ 1 Italo Calvino: Invisible Cities, Frankfurt am Main: Fischer 2013, p. 21 2 Kevin Lynch: The Image of the City, ed. by Ulrich CONRADS, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Vienna: Ullstein 1965, p. 12