[TISEA 1992] Artist Statement: Dieter Jung — Into the Rainbow, Different Space, Illuminations, Sun Dial, Light-Mill

Artist Statement

Dieter Jung sees in the hologram a means of preying on and capturing the precise instant at which light, perception and consciousness coincide at a single point — the point at which reality is meant to be created. In other words, Jung is a catcher of rainbows. His compositions involve rectangular, trapezoidal, parallelogram-like or rhomboid fields of colour, graduated in an optically staggered sequence, which appear to be diagonally offset against each other. The virtual appearance of Jung’s computer holograms is thus translated into the classic medium of painting. The onus of completing the simulation of movement passes to the consciousness of the observer, demanding active participation instead of passivity.

The sense of confusion caused by Jung’s ‘paintings’ stems from the general relativity of spatial con­ texts. Like actors announcing their message from the stage (because it cannot be resubstantialised in any other way) the third dimension can only be a plane of projection by which the fourth dimension is rendered tangible.
Our observation thus arrives at an important point: it touches on a central issue. Holograms that serve solely to transform the three-dimensionality of objects in the outside world into spectral images have failed to exploit the essence of the hologram and have therefore disregarded its true quality. This quality consists in the fact that the hologram is a vehicle capable of projecting the presence of a dimensionality beyond the third dimension. The concept of the fourth dimension has already been used in such an inflated way that it has become jaded and imprecise. It could mean anything. This is why there should be no mention of the fourth dimension, only of determining one of the dimensions situated beyond the three conventional dimensions. It is this added dimension, together with the per­ ception of light, that constitutes the point of convergence of the space within and the space without. where the light of consciousness is sparked. I would like to call them dimensions of consciousness. The rainbow is the allegory.

Work in exhibition:

  1. Into the Rainbow , 43 x 32cm, 1983
  2. Different Space, 42 x 32cm, 1985
  3. Illuminations, 42 x 32cm, 1986
  4. Sun Dial, 42 x 32cm, 1986
  5. Light – Mil, 20 x 20cm, 1987/88