Simon Speiser

Floats, 2019

VR experience for Oculus Go

The VR work Floats takes on a central motif of Momo, the novel published by Michael Ende in 1973. Here, so-called Stundenblumen embody time frozen in space. The time stored in them is disseminated by their blossoming, blooming and withering. In Speiser's work, these flowers are exchanged for 32 objects he was given by friends or he had himself collected, all bearing a particular relationship to time and memory. In the work, these objects drift towards the spectator, extend to larger than life floating around, and shrink while moving away towards the horizon. Their movements form a Mandala-like pattern while they traverse a full circle around the viewer in exact 24 minutes, contemplating upon time(s)and space(s). They range from everyday objects whose meaning relies on the particular experiences they embody to a stone covered with traces microorganisms left 145 million years ago or a meteorite, bringing in matter from outside the solar system. Some also have a relationship to pondering about the question of time in relationship to the development of the species on earth, as is the case with a little sculpture of an ape sitting on a pile of books by Charles Darwin, a copy of which was owned by Lenin. Another aspect the title is hinting at is the floating-point arithmetic procedures that form one of the basic elements for computational processes, the condition upon which the work itself is depended upon. Floating-point arithmetic is fundamentally a formulaic attempt to represent infinite real numbers approximately, mirroring the dilemma of defining time.

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ABOUT THE ARTIST

Simon Speiser born 1988, studied Fine Arts in ABK Stuttgart and Städelschule Frankfurt, with Christian Jankowski, Alexander Roob, Willem de Rooij, Michael Krebber and Mark von Schlegell. In his practice he develops fictional concepts and ideas that merge nature and technology. This often brings various disciplines into dialogue, ranging from writing, sculpture and installation to printing, video and VR. He took part in several group and solo shows in institutions, galleries and project spaces including the Frankfurter Kunstverein, MMK Frankfurt, Oracle Berlin, Croy Nielsen, MMCA Seoul and Robert Grunenberg.

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