Born in 1979 (Germany), based in Reykjavík (Iceland).
“What I see is what I see is what I see,” stated American artist Donald Judd, defending a direct, non-interpretive approach to art.
But what do we see when we look at, for example, an IKEA table: a piece of furniture? Chipboard covered with plastic? A brand? A product of neoliberal capitalism? Are we even capable of seeing just a table, disregarding its means of production and distribution, its material components, or even the symbol that these iconic pieces of furniture have become? How can we detach ourselves from our cultural references when we approach the world around us?
In her sculptures, installations, and videos, Sabine A. Fischer attempts to dissect the systems of thought through which we perceive reality. With humor and tenderness, she draws on philosophy as much as mythology, fiction as much as science. In her experimental assemblages, intuition and mechanisms of association specific to dreams become a working methodology. What happens when matter (the raw, natural, original) dialogues with material (the manufactured, transformed)? Searching for the origins or an idealized essence of things, the artist compares registers, refines forms, imagines conversations, reproduces her childhood drawings... and yet, the presence of military tanks in these drawings leaves no doubt about the early impact of cultural, political, and symbolic contexts on human experience.
Sabine A. Fischer explores this reflection playfully, her thoughts materialising in artworks that refuse any form of authority. They simply propose a reversal of paradigms, a change of perspective.
Written by Isabelle Henrion.
A well-known saying describes as an idiot anyone who looks at the finger instead of marveling at the moon pointed out by the wise man. But is it really so foolish to examine that outstretched finger, and thus question the position – valued and often privileged – of the one who points the way, who holds authority? In a world rife with ideological tensions, information manipulation, and increasing technological mediation, isn't it healthy to take into account the entire system of knowledge production and dissemination? Not to be blinded by the seductive brilliance of the moon, but to question the motivations of those who guide our gaze?
The three artists brought together for this residency, Sabine Fischer (DE/IS), Valeria Limongi (IT), and Javier Gonzalez Pesce (CH), share this interest in the tools – technical, scientific, spiritual, and ideological – that shape our vision and our coexistence. They dissect how humans create meaning and place great importance on the role that sensations and experiences play in these processes of knowledge and understanding of the self and the world.
‘A rose is a rose is a rose’.
Although we initially introduced Sabine A. Fischer's practice with a quote from Donald Judd (‘What you see is what you see is what you see’), we now prefer this similar quote from Gertrude Stein, certainly more accurate in terms of sensibility. It is this author that the artist chooses to quote in the piece (Cross-references).
In her sculptures, installations and videos, Sabine A. Fischer attempts to dissect the systems of thought through which we perceive reality. Deeply feminist, Sabine A. Fischer's works are intended to be without authority, proposing a reversal of paradigms, a change of perspective. According to Gertrude Stein, repetition is a way of attempting to grasp the multiple realities of a single thing, of circling around it to gradually approach its essence, which is necessarily plural, made up of the sum of all angles of view. In her experimental assemblages, Sabine A. Fischer creates a dialogue between matter (raw, original) and material (manufactured, transformed), questioning the nature of what we are looking at. Intuition and the mechanism of association specific to dreams are a claimed working methodology. Dreams are not understood as a separated universe from the waking world, but as a tool for accessing our basic senses and their direct, albeit unconscious, ability to grasp the world. Through her work, Sabine A. Fischer places on the same level sensations and thoughts, the body and the reason, the raw and the crafted, humans and non-humans.
Written by Isabelle Henrion.