4shrooms - Analog Synergy in a Digital World
Under revolving pastry plates with star motifs, cut-outs from pictures of bygone eras appear. Shadows of hands form letters over photographs and textiles throw folds over 16-millimeter film loops, which gradually go up in flames. Rotary pumps from aquariums propel multicolored oil droplets on water surfaces in a circular motion, instrumental sounds get mixed in with vocal experiments.
Visual and acoustic echoes bounce off the walls, flowing, climbing, covering, and piling over microphones and slide, overhead, and rattling film projectors. The projected collective spectacle succeeds in flooding the viewer with an overflowing variety in the form of a broad audiovisual image, creating a kind of audiovisual synergy. 4shrooms consider themselves the participants of such audiovisual performances. What they have in common is innovation, experimentation, and analog collaboration.
The group, which includes Doris Steinbichler, Anna Graf, George Eisnecker, Jan von Krieg, Andi Punz, Amadeus Kronheim, Ruth Haselmair, and Asia Sumyk, do not only inundate the viewers with unusual projections, but they also always reveal the secrets behind their creations. Their visuals are performative and produced on location, often in the middle of the space: hands and equipment are fully exposed. One can go over and watch, and if the group is outnumbered, even participate. With the number of the visualizing participants in the group, the multilayered-ness of the projection work increases, but that is not only valid in regard to the visual result, but also in view of the social dimension of artistic cooperation. (wh/jn)