Roman Signer Body of Work
Läuten auf dem Fluss (Ringing on the river), River Widawka, Poland, 1986
Tropfen (Drops), Studio Mühlentreppe, St. Gallen, Switzerland, 1986
Stiefel (Boots), Dam of the river Sitter, Appenzell, Switzerland, 1990
Tisch (Table), 1994
Wasserstiefel (Water boots)
Wassersäule (Water column), 1976
Kajak (Kayak), 1988
Ski (Skis), 2000
Artist's statement
Signer is a visual artist who works in sculpture, photography, and video. Signer’s ‘action sculptures’ involve setting up, carrying out, and recording ‘experiments’ or events that bear aesthetic results. His work has been shown at numerous galleries and museums in Europe, North America and Asia over the last thirty years. For Water Boots I filled two black boots with water and put a small amount of explosive in them. This is what the water looked like when I fired them electrically. Before starting, I said to Marek, my brother-in-law, who was with me: ‘Stand in front of it and take a picture when it explodes.’ He had neither a tripod nor a motorised camera. He just stood there, pressed the release, and came up with a masterpiece.
About the photographer
1938, Appenzell, Switzerland
Swiss
St Gallen, Switzerland
Roman Signer studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in 1971-1972. His exhibition history includes over twenty-five years of gallery and museum shows throughout Europe and the United States. His work was featured in 3th Venice Biennale (1976) and documenta 8, Kassel (1987) and in group exhibitions such as A Swiss Dialectic, Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago (1991), Voorwerk 3, Witte de With, Rotterdam (1992), Heart of Darkness, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo Kunst – Stiftung Ludwig, Viennaa, and Shift, De Appel Foundation, Amsterdam (1995), Wunschmanschine Welterfindung, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, and Model Home, Clocktower (1997,) Westfälisches Landesmuseum, Münster (1997), Unfinished History, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (1998), The Sultan’s Pool, Art Focus, Jerusalem, Panorama (2000), Centraal Museum, Utrecht, and Provisorium I, Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht (1999).
Water shortlist
Benoit Aquin, The Chinese 'Dust Bowl', 2006-2007
Edward Burtynsky, Selected works, 1996-2007
Jesus Abad Colorado, Landscapes and Battles: Two wings wait for the end of the tragedy, 1995-2002
Thomas Joshua Cooper, The World's Edge - The Atlantic Basin Project, 1998-2006
Sebastian Copeland, Antarctica - The Global Warning, 2006
Christian Cravo, Waters of Hope, Rivers of Tears, 1995-2008
Lynn Davis, Ice, 1988-2007
Carl De Keyzer, Moments before the Flood, 2006-2007
Reza Deghati, War and Peace, 1994-2006
Susan Derges, Eden & The Observer and the Observed, 1991-2008
Malcolm Hutcheson, Lahore's Waste Water Problem, 2008
Chris Jordan, In Katrina's Wake: Portraits of Loss from an Unnatural Disaster, 2005
David Maisel, Terminal Mirage & The Lake Project, 2001-2004
Mary Mattingly, Second Nature and Time Has Fallen Asleep, 2004-2008
Robert Polidori, After The Flood, 2005-2006
Roman Signer, Body of Work, 1976-2000
Jules Spinatsch, Snow Management, 2004-2008
Munem Wasif, Water Tragedy: Climate Refugee of Bangladesh, 2007