May 20–July 9, 2016
Halsey Institute
The Marion and Wayland H. Cato Jr. Center for the Arts
161 Calhoun Street, 1st Floor
Charleston, SC, 29401
Hours: Monday–Saturday 11am–4pm,
until 11pm Thursday
T 843 953 4422
The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston presents a solo exhibition entitled Erwin Redl: Rational Exuberance, May 20 through July 9. Redl is an installation artist who works with light and movement through a minimalist vocabulary. Correlating events during the exhibition include:
Erwin Redl: Rational Exuberance
The title of this exhibition is a play on the famous phrase “irrational exuberance” used by former Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan, in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute during the Dot-com bubble of the 1990s. In this case the title is the program. It refers to the artist’s strict methodologies which employ binary logic as well as tropes of minimalism to exuberant extremes. As demonstrated in his light installations and most recent kinetic works, a very restrained vocabulary due to the scale, repetition, and variations leads to a sense of deep corporeality. The meaning oscillates between the purely abstract and profound sensuality.
About Erwin Redl
Born in Austria in 1963, Erwin Redl finished his studies at the Vienna Music Academy with a BA in Composition (1990) and BA in Electronic Music (1991). He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for graduate studies in computer art at the School of Visual Arts, in NYC (MFA 1995). Redl investigates the process of “reverse engineering” by (re-)translating the abstract aesthetic language of virtual reality and 3D computer modeling into architectural environments by means of large-scale light installations.
The artist’s work was featured in the 2002 Whitney Biennial by covering the Whitney Museum’s façade with three multicolor LED veils. In 2008, he created a sound and light installation for the Austrian Pavilion at the World Expo in Zaragoza, Spain. The Pacific Design Center’s new Red Building by Cesar Pelli features four permanent installations by the artist completed in 2013. Redl’s largest work to date is a computer-controlled, 580-foot-long-LED-installation at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio (completed in November 2010).
His work is collected by prestigious national and international institutions, among them the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; the Milwaukee Art Museum, WI; and Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul; as well as by private collectors.
Redl was recently selected by the Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge to lead a public art project in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Throughout this year Redl will collaborate with the city and neighborhood groups to design and develop LED light installations for fall 2016 to transform open spaces and create safer, more vibrant neighborhoods.
About the Halsey Institute
The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston provides a multidisciplinary laboratory for the production, presentation, interpretation, and dissemination of ideas by innovative visual artists from around the world. As a non-collecting museum, we create meaningful interactions between adventurous artists and diverse communities within a context that emphasizes the historical, social, and cultural importance of the art of our time.
Parking: Available in the St. Philip and George Street Garages
Tours: Guided group tours are offered through the Halsey Institute’s Looking to See program. Contact Maya McGauley at [email protected] for inquiries.
For more information: Contact the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art by calling T (843) 953 HICA (4422) or visiting www.halsey.cofc.edu
