Nikolaus Gansterer :
Libra – Balancing the Invisible

For the installation "Libra – Balancing the Invisible", Nikolaus Gansterer transformed one of his diagrammatic drawings into a movable three-dimensional object. The fundamental question behind the expansive mobile hanging in one of the atriums of the Korneuburg courthouse was how the complex interaction between different social interstices can be represented and translated into form. For Gansterer, the mobile – whose elements always return to an equilibrium – represents the principle of the weighing scale, the symbol of justice. The intricately designed object seems like a three-dimensional drawing that reacts to air movements caused by thermal lift in the room. It consist of balls of different sizes and disks that are connected by rods, like a molecular structure. The idea behind Gansterer’s work is that all elements in our world influence one another. The artist explores the world primarily by drawing it. He says: "Drawing for me is research in a classic sense: You slowly feel your way forward, experimenting and starting over and over, step-by-step." He is interested in the phenomena and systems of the natural and social sciences and how these relate to the search for an artistic language and form. When and how does an idea become visible, and what semantics does it require? This is the question posed by Gansterer – a master of "parallel thinking". His drawings, performances, artist’s books, and installations always revolve around complex networks and how things are connected to each other. In this regard, his artistic works are not only experimental models for how to better understand the world and its complexity, they are also models for a poetic alternative world.
(Cornelia Offergeld)