Abstract

Leni Schwendinger’s site-specific artwork with light, computers and industrial materials are temporal performances and permanent installations in the urban environment. As seen in two of her works, Deep Time/Deep Space, Subterranean Journey (New Denver Airport 12/93) and The Urban Heart. A Homebody/ (Tokyo 5/93), she addresses issues regarding content and subject matter in relation to site and technology. The work is interdisciplinary, drawing on cinema, music, theatre and architecture. “Interactivity” is redefined as the physical/intellectual engagement of the viewer. Deep Time/Deep Space,

A Subterranean Journey was commissioned by the City of Denver. This light and sculpture environment is installed in a mile-long shuttle-train tunnel. Arriving travelers perceive sculptural forms “animated” by the moving train. Materials include steel, reflective materials and lighting. Images informed by construction, mining, aerospace and subterranean fantasy worlds surround the train and segue into each other.

The Urban Heart, A Homebody/ was performed in Tokyo using a biomorphically shaped concrete house as a canvas. The projection montage explored ideas about home, from the body as home to the heart, to the city as the intricate and pulsing center of contemporary life. Giant shadows cast by audience members were interwoven with projected paintings inspired by the human heart and symbols of Tokyo. Artist and audience created an ever changing visual landscape as the interaction of human figures revealed previously hidden images.

• LENI SCHWENDINGER, Artist; Faculty, Parsons Scbool of Design, New York, NY, U.S.A.