The large-scale installation art of Alois Kronschlaeger’s site-specific works opens a window to the wide scope of influences that are addressed in his works. Kronschlaeger is an Austrian citizen. His works are influenced by post-minimalism, constructivism, Jazz, architecture and many other avant-garde ideas. To explore the environment, light, space, time, and environment, he creates site-specific art installations as well as abstract art sculptures. The repetition in terms of the visual appearance of the sculpture art – be it colour or form, if it at once exudes a sense of poetic rhythm, then also disturbs the geometric patterns of its surroundings. The sculptural installation opens the field to allow viewers to reflect on the unseen parts of their immediate surroundings.
Kronschlaeger’s Kind of BlueCristin Tierney Gallery, New York presented the temporary immersive installation titled “” at the former retail space below it on the Lower East Side. This work was inspired in part by Miles Davis’s classic album. Kronschlaeger’s personal favourite music piece was recorded in New York City. The art installation echoes the core tenet of jazz music, which is that there are many variations and themes within a program. The 1500-foot gridded structure consisting of 2 x 2-inch wooden planks and over 300 yards of Ultrasuede fabric creates an organic, loose flow. In an interview with STIR, Kronschlaeger talks about his deep-seated interest in music, particularly Jazz, and how does it inform his art practice, “I listen to music constantly in the studio while I am working – music for me is a constant interaction. The installation’s grid structure was like all jazz, with the base being linear. I laid the fabric on it along the lines of the improvisational aspect, the curve, and how they merge to create a constant interaction. This is how I would sort of see my connection to music, so my studio practice is where the two coexist: art and music.”
The public installation site was also important because the animals used to visit Manhattan’s parts of Manhattan thousands of years ago to seek water. The installation’s blue, undulating surface Kind of BlueThis topography of Manhattan includes hints at the hills and hints at the quest. The immersive art allows viewers the opportunity to navigate through the installations and to see how the interior structure changes as they move through them. What was initially perceived as soft and pliable from the outside is supported by highly structured and geometric forms. The immersive experience surrounding the work is analogous for the Austrian artist to a deep dive into the ocean. One holds the breath and slowly returns to the surface. “You contemplate the various blues and then when you are ready to surface the real world again you step out onto the place of Kind of Blue.”
Talking about the immersive nature of Kind of Blue, Kronschlaeger illustrates, “While doing site-specific art installations it is always significant to know how the viewers position themselves to activate the space with their presence. For example, during an installation Kind of BlueIt allowed the viewer to navigate freely and provided multiple exit options. But it was not designed in a way that would allow one to get lost within the installation. It is really interesting how the viewers respond to it and how they are also being challenged to the practice of navigation, and if they become protagonists within this space.”
The AllotropismsKronschlaeger created another site-specific piece that measured 15 feet high and 65 feet long. The wire mesh, wood, and poured paint created a combination of elements of biomorphic as well as geometric abstraction. Following the lines of Allotropisms Kind of BlueThe installation of the Polychromatic ContemplationThe intersection of material form and conceptual structure lies at its core. The installation art is made up of towers constructed of coloured lattices, yarn work, and perched on brickwork foundations. The artwork design is determined by the repeated grid structure created with the painted rods, and the mesh matrixes. The vertical structure of the towers that are placed on the horizontal floor creates an environment that is psychedelic and defies the architecture’s singular precision.
01
Min watch
It is the clever combination of minimalism, conceptual thought, and site-specific Kronschlaeger installations that draws attention to the built structures.
