“Maelström”—an installation inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s short story.

The story
A man and his brothers are surprised by the wind. Their ship is dragged into a powerful and destructive whirlpool and slowly pulled into the depths. Overwhelmed by intensity and exhaustion, the man’s horror turns into curiosity. He recognizes that the safety of the ship needs to be abandoned as only things of a specific shape and mass resist the destructive downpull. He attaches himself to a water cask and goes overboard, handing himself over to the vortex. His observations keep him alive, but his hair turns white and his limbs are weakened all in the space of just one day.

The installation
Psychoanalysis, X-rays and cinema have begun to directing our views to the inside of things and ourselves. Inner phenomena are difficult to perceive because we are either in their very center or outside. Natural phenomena may be too big or frightening for us to see completely. “Maelstrom” tries to combine these two perspectives to look at how the inner and outer worlds may interrelate when images, stories and information are flowing through our heads at accelerating speed. When things start to become blurred and foggy.
The installation melts down concept and technique, digital and analog to a working organism. It attempts a synthesis of cinema and sculpture and is based on generative, material processes. “Maelstrom” is an autonomous mirror of reality in which perception and dream, the visible and invisible, the imaginary and the material are to come together to form a whole.

Image, sound and animation
A machinery in the background of “Maelstrom” controls a powerful magnet that influences the complex behavior of magnetite particles suspended in a solution of water and glycerin. Custom-made software is responsible for guiding the endless drawing process. The sound mainly consists of the noises produced by the machinery. The combination of image and sound, of light and movement produce an experience that can hardly be documented. The particles’ fine material structures and groups can only be judged when seen for real. The magnetic nature of the particles makes them move as groups or surfaces. Every change influences the whole image. The surface is constantly in movement and caught in distant reactions. Cause and effect seem to lose connection.

Links: www.romankirschner.net/maelstrom

Funded by Communauté française de Belgique—Arts Numérique and the Ministry of Education, Art and Culture. Created in residency at Lab[au] office for architecture and urbanism.

Roman Kirschner, born 1975. His work is at the intersection of fine art and media art. He is best known for his acclaimed artwork “Roots”. He studied philosophy and art history in Vienna and audiovisual arts in Cologne. His work has been exhibited worldwide and received international prices, including ZKM’s 2003 International Media Art Award.