Silvia Hell, O, B, A, F, G, K, M. Installation view. Photo: Tiberio Sorvillo
O, B, A, F, G, K, M
Silvia Hell
27.09.24 – 05.10.24
Casa Spadafora, Via dei Portici 48a Bolzano/Bozen
Silvia Hell investigates the human perception of the environment, confronting the limits of systems for measuring and recording reality. Spectroscopy data of stars and galaxies collected by the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics are translated by the artist into three-dimensional digital models and subsequently printed according to different perspectives on elongated polymethylmethacrylate plates. These plates, combined with iron girders found in the building
in the historic centre hosting the exhibition, take on sculptural configurations relating to the architecture during its renovation. Interventions were made on the iron scraps by the artist, smoothed in places with a sander as a method of esploring the qualities of the material.
In the field of astronomy, stellar classification is based on the analysis of the spectrum of light that is emitted, from which the surface temperature of the star can be determined. The main classes of stars are denoted by the letters O, B, A, F, G, K, M, a system developed by the American astronomer Annie Jump Cannon (1863-1941) with the mnemonic: ‘Oh Be a Fine Girl/Guy, Kiss Me’. The data used by Silvia Hell are the synthetic spectra corresponding to the average of the measurements of hundreds of thousands of spectra of similar stars and galaxies belonging to the same class.
Axonometric and orthogonal views of the processed spectra are presented with a background colour corresponding to the colour of the reference stellar class, which provides information on their age. Blue stars are the youngest, yellow stars, like the Sun, are at mid-life, red stars at the end of their lives. If they have a large enough mass, by burning their iron core, they can explode and become a supernova or supergiant star. In the galaxy series, three-dimensional models are overlapped, generating a shape composed of the different digital spatialisations of the data.
On the first floor, in the video installation Nature for strings, everyday shots of natural elements are distorted in the artist’s digital processing. Through superimpositions and colour changes, they give rise to a kaleidoscopic perception of nature filmed with a smartphone by the artist, sometimes using additionalmacroscopic lenses.
Silvia Hell’s works are the result of different translations from data to form, from form to material and from the material to space. In her practice, conceptual rigour is interspersed by interferences that she welcomes and integrates into the process of creation. Forms resulting from the translation of spectroscopies of stars and galaxies, as well as the digital manipulation of videos, confront us with new forms, freed from the recording data from which they originated and part of the cosmic whole from which they come to us. Text: M.P.
partner Bolzano Art Weeks 2024
(from left to right) Silvia Hell, M3V, 2024. UV-Digitaldruck auf Methacrylat, Eisen 134,5 x 15 x 32 cm; Silvia Hell, Im, 2024. UV-Digitaldruck auf Methacrylat, Eisen 174,5 x 15 x 36,5 cm. Photo: Tiberio Sorvillo
(from left to right) Silvia Hell, M3V, 2024. UV-Digitaldruck auf Methacrylat, Eisen 134,5 x 15 x 32 cm; Silvia Hell, Im, 2024. UV-Digitaldruck auf Methacrylat, Eisen 174,5 x 15 x 36,5 cm. Photo: Tiberio Sorvillo
Silvia Hell, O, B, A, F, G, K, M. Installation view. Photo: Tiberio Sorvillo
(from left to right) Silvia Hell, G2V, 2024. (detail) Stampa digitale UV su metacrilato, ferro, 17 x 139 x 32 cm; E, 2024. (detail) Stampa digitale UV su metacrilato, ferro, 33 x 174 x 18 cm. Photo: Tiberio Sorvillo
Silvia Hell, Scd, 2024 (detail). Stampa digitale UV su metacrilato, ferro, 16 x 262 x 68 cm. Photo: Fanni Fazekas
Silvia Hell, Nature for strings, 2024. HD video, Sound, 14’54’’. Photo: Tiberio Sorvillo
