public preposition No. 3/swing stage, 2011

Mischa Kuball - Duesseldorf, Germany

Conceptual Light Installation, Performance Art

Known for his light installations that take on social hue, Kuball transforms the Eberhard Zeidler skyscraper into a light-activated performance work utilizing a swing stage operated by professional trades-people. The façade, which by day dons an outer skin of endless window squares on its rectangular frame, is reconfigured at night into gleaming and blinking vertical stripes of light in keeping with the rhythm of the simple act of cleaning a window. The activation strengthens the connection between the outside of the building, the body of space located inside, the people who keep our cities running in the dark of the night and resembles cinematographic shutter movements in the urban environment.
 
public preposition No. 3/swing stage is part of an ongoing series of projects.  The first was launched at the Venice Biennale in 2009 as part of detournement venise and located at the Caserma Cornoldi as an outdoor projection on the military premises and inside an old church under restoration.  The series continues and will be documented in a book.  This unique site in an urban setting marks a strong visibility at a distance from Front Street to Bloor Street.

Mischa Kuball is the Chair of Media Art at the Academy of Design in Cologne.  His explorations of architectural and spatial structures began in 1980 and have expanded into public art projects. Kuball works conceptually with light and in unique ways links it to social and political statements.  Artificial light is a preferred technological medium and he works with its physical properties within the context of the urban night in city streets and the darkness of interiors to make connections visible by means of illumination.

Suitable for all ages