Rudolf Macher :
Porter’s Lodge

Rudolf Macher's object for this entrance hall in the Regierungsviertel in St. Pölten's, in a building which houses the Cultural Department of the Province of Lower Austria, is quite inconspicuous at first glance. Those who do eventually notice this work will find it captivating. Macher applied an inner layer of plates, black but transparent, to the unoccupied porter's box. These bear the words "I saw an object which prevented it from seeing" cut out at eye-level. The fine script emits light from an apparently strong light source. Attempts to understand the sentence and discover its visual origin are doomed to failure: The sentence is unintelligible, and the source of light cannot be seen by looking through the plates. One sees only light or oneself – reflected through the glass plates. A vicious circle.
The relationship between light, time and consciousness, as well as the transition from the visible to the invisible – and for that matter, transcendent phenomena as a whole – number among Macher's central themes. Using the example of the phenomenon of light and its perception, he poses questions as to knowledge and its insufficiencies. He forces the viewer to confront the tragedy of perceiving the borders of consciousness, without being able to escape them.
The porter's box can be seen as the guard of these borders.
(Cornelia Offergeld)