TO SPACES UNSIGNED
The show at Raum mit Licht Gallery presents works by Rini Tandon comprising a wide spectrum of models that examine absolute and abstract spaces. A perceptible correlation between the objects, photographic works and drawings in the exhibition emerges as they are all based in the same sculptural process.
The title of the show to spaces unsigned refers to unlabelled, undefined spaces, attributeless and without ascription of value, as opposed to concepts of space that are understood as property or as means of control. Exploring Zero as a measure, Rini Tandon analyses structures generated by materials and their relation to attributes of space. She fuses theoretical information with and at the same time disconnects it from experiential knowledge in an attempt to expand on the ‘unsigned’, linking scientific awareness with poetic metaphor.
“… her concerns have addressed ‘the invisibility of inferential space but also the imperceptibility of ubiquitous space’… She has expanded upon and elaborated the language of Minimalism, introducing content from other disciplines, such as quantum physics, making her interest in cosmological issues evident”.
(Peter Nagy: On the Work of Rini Tandon, Neue Galerie, Landesmuseum Graz, 2000/ Text: Nature Morte, Berlin.)
Tandon uses numerous materials and media to explore an elementary aspect of the natural world, examining themes such as materiality, space, energy and structure, claiming the use of time/space as malleable ‘materials’ to sculpt with, as in the photographic works titled Optical Chasm, The Geometry of Illusion I or Shooting Location. These works focus the mechanism between the object and its perception, between knowledge and perceptual experience, producing a new interactive space at the point of conjunction where the object and its perception meet. Questioning the tangibility of physical reality, Tandon has implemented methods for ‘absenting the given’ in different forms.
“The artist creates solid sculptures that strive for a state of fluidity, while in her photographs there is sculptural thrust, a movement towards three-dimensionality. What is perhaps most crucial here is her preoccupation with the topological aspects of perception and the imperceptibility of actual space”. (Camilla Nielsen, Making a Splash, ART INDIA, 2009.)
Sculptural models examine attributes of space, weighing them against properties of the finite as in the works Concrete Time, Breath-Field or Wandering Attributes. Also included in the exhibition is Echo Location 2 in which a prefabricated blue line ‘scans’ the three-dimensional objects, defining their forms. Assuming imperceptbility as an inseparable quality of the perceivable, the work draws analogy to an oscillating expanse whose spatial structures it surfs.
“Tandon’s new works are most compelling when considered as an exploration of the artist’s interest in a specialized subject matter, as well as an attempt to convey information and share her fascination with viewers. This is ultimately an aesthetic strength… leading others to ponder her curiosity and to empathize with her investigation of such distinctive intellectual issues”.
(Ana Finel Honigman, ARTFORUM, 2009.)
Rini Tandon, born in India, lives and works in Vienna since 1978.
She studied at the Universities of Delhi and Baroda, India and at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. She has been teaching at the University of Applied Arts Vienna since 1987. Numerous publications record her participation in exhibitions.