Siggi Hofer :
Inventar 3 (Inventory 3)

Hofer not only created the text himself; he also developed the typography. For the work’s predecessor, Mascha 1, 2, 3, he took three lines of a poem by Kaléko and applied them with pastel to three canvases using his fingers and the flat of his hands. The even rubbing of the pastel on the rough ground required great physical effort that left marks on his hands and skin. Hofer understands this as a show of his respect for the original work and for Kaléko’s poem on which it is based. This method also gave him time to develop a kind of relationship with the poet—or, as he calls it, a friendship. Using these three canvases as a foundation, the letters of which were photographed and completed to form an alphabet, Hofer developed the typography to construct Inventar 3 line by line. For the most part, the letters are black, massive, almost bulky; their subtle elegance only becomes clear in combination with the huge, curved panels and the occasional use of color. The results hold their own in the landscape, while also complementing it.

The unpretentious intuitiveness of the form, the apparent simplicity that is ultimately revealed as complicated and that escapes conventional understanding, as well as the strictness, steadfastness, and ultimate reticence of the message are all typical for Hofer, whose artistic practice is located somewhere between Pop art, Conceptual art, and poetry. That he works with writing and text also makes him destined for public [LO1] [MM2] spaces. His works are always open and accessible and are never arrogant. Perceiving a typography—reading what is presumably a message—is a very direct act. We intuitively understand the practice of repetition and the regularity of structure, and we continue it in our minds. Language is part of all of us, and we all become part of the artworks.

The real center of Inventar 3 is the gap, the “without,” which can signify both an absence and freedom at the same time. “Fuchs ohne Bau” (Fox without a den) and “Blume ohne Duft” (Flower without scent) are juxtaposed with “Tier ohne Scheu” (Animal without timidity) and “Nacht ohne Angst” (Night without fear). Like a mantra of remembrance, the fragments revolving around the weather, water, landscape, sun, heat, and people come together to form a unified whole. “‘Without’” expresses how someone or something that belongs isn’t present, isn’t involved, has been left out, or is free of something,” says Hofer. This permanent shift in meaning can convey confidence or reflection; it can create a pleasant feeling, or bluntly prophesy the end. Ultimately, these lines with fluid meaning activate multiple interpretations through the collision between the intuitive, readable form and the content that drifts in all kinds of directions.

Language is the central factor in Hofer’s art. The lyrical content of his works has a critical, sometimes ironic, sarcastic, and at times delicately humorous tone. He does not present us with slogans: Rather, he speaks to us in poetic meter. In postmodernist manner, he uses various sources that he then further shapes, defamiliarizes, repeats, changes, and hollows out. His language is concrete, but sometimes it also becomes abstract. Either way, the images stay with us as textual fragments long after we first see them, and they always straddle the boundary between text and image. Stylized typographies and clear, sign-like images are typical for Hofer’s repertoire of forms. His works—in color or in black, graphic and two-dimensional, sometimes with optical illusions—merge elements that are seemingly autobiographical while also universally valid. Words become images, images become words. Understanding, misunderstanding, and a lack of understanding are never far from each other. Hofer’s art also always has a spatial dimension, and he often incorporates the surroundings into his works in a site-specific approach. He works with modules that grow into an installation within a space and which are precisely placed while also suggesting flexibility. Pictures are objects and as such they constitute a spatial artwork.

Hofer reads content and expression together. He amalgamates them using language as a material.In this way, Inventar 3 becomes a minimalist étude that revolves around “without” as its center of gravity. In times of material abundance, growing social isolation, and loneliness, this work invites us to explore it with our bodies and create an entirely personal experience assembled out of movement, reading/seeing, and reflection.

Lisa Ortner-Kreil

[1] Siggi Hofer calls this project Inventar 3 because it was preceded by a video work called Inventar in which he named all the objects in his apartment in Vienna while recording himself on a Dictaphone, and because of Mascha Kaléko’s poem “Inventar.”