Fritz Grohs
:
On And On
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The words 'ON' and 'AND' are on the vertical faces of alternate steps of an escalator at the airport's international terminal. The mundane escalator becomes a symbol for the circulation and the associated continual repetition. The title of the artwork is 'On and On'. The Project s no longer on view.
An escalator is in principle a mechanical device with a clear-cut function. Associated with the production of symbols, it does not appear to be of much good at first glance – to the extent that it should provide an incentive for art-reflexive operations. A few turns of the hand are needed to transform the everyday object into an art-specific program of communication. Initially, there was thus the idea of using an escalator in so-called public space as a medium. Just like a painter uses paint, the canvas and an exhibition or a writer uses language and the book as a medium. Fritz Grohs relativizes the hard logic inherent in the conveyor construction of the escalator by relating it to the soft logic of an artistic construction. He selects a tautological message that is applied to the step elements. It relates differently to the message of an advertisement in the same way that it is identical with the functional logic of the stairs. Formulated in terms of discourse theory, we are dealing here with a special instance of shift in context.
(F.E. Rakuschan)
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