Judith Fegerl: Tense mechanics
by Nina Schedlmayer
Catalogue "Potential Dialogue", Nanjing, China, November 2006

Since Marcel Duchamps it is generally accepted: the public forms an integral part of a work of art. While his main concern was still that art reaches its final fulfillment only by contemplation, the following generations of artists have struggled with the sensual perception itself – for instance one of the most prominent contemporary artists – Olafur Eliasson’s „Room for One Colour“ illuminated by yellow light can only be perceived in shades of grey.
In her works Judith Fegerl forces the public to reflect on perception: for instance in a dark room green LED-dots are blinking and the subsequent images reproduced on the retina are being imitated as a projection on the back wall – thus a clear distinction from the own „naturally“ perceived ones is not possible any more. „Irrlicht“ therefore – such is the title of the work.
In 2005 Fegerl has created a „Nest“ for the Kunstraum Niederösterreich: 36 infrared lamps dangled from the ceiling – for those standing underneath, the temperature rose about 15 degrees Celsius. The temperature in the surrounding room however remained stable – only the visitor entering the installation triggered the process of warming.

Fegerl’s interest in the instant of merging of organic and anorganic material erupts again in her project „Tension Object“: In a globe made out of porcelain and covered by natural human hair she induces thousands of Volts; because of the tension the hair stands on end repeatedly. To this idiom, usually expressing a state of fear and terror, Fegerl alludes; By exhibiting this haptic and at the same time awe-inspiring object she provokes within the observer an emotional contradiction between fear and curiosity.

In her most recent work she got inspired by the fairy tale „The Chinese nightingale“ by Hans Christian Andersen: It is the story of a Chinese emperor who was presented a mechanical nightingale as a substitute for a natural one. A similar mechanical system – in the 18th century these kind of toy-like automats were very popular in Europe – is re- and deconstructed by Fegerl. Once more the inherent tension between human body and machine becomes manifest, in the very end representing the one between culture and nature.