anthony mccall: five minutes of pure sculpture at hamburger bahnhof

‘five minutes of pure sculpture’ by anthony mccall, 2012 all images by david von becker and courtesy nationalgalerie im hamburger bahnhof – museum für gegenwart

anthony mccall: five minutes of pure sculpture nationalgalerie im hamburger bahnhof – museum für gegenwart, berlin, germany on now until august 12th, 2012

new york artist anthony mccall has displayed his sculptural installation ‘five minutes of pure sculpture‘ at hamburger bahnhof – museum für genenwart in berlin, germany. the artist has developed his exploration of solid light which has overtaken the darkened central space of hamburger bahnhof. mccall has transformed the 1,000 square meter room through his introduction of blinding small streams of light pouring down from the rafters of the vacuous, black space. this in-depth installation of mccall’s work is the first instance in which both vertical and horizontal luminescent forms are displayed within the same show.

when a viewer enters the exhibition, he/she wanders through five single and two double projections. four light figures are vertical while the other three shine horizontally and each of the seven beams are made more brilliant by a thin haze. the cavernous space is filled with the luminescent, kinetic sculptures projected from a height of ten meters. the slow moving beams of light, stop soundly on the facing walls, the cleared floor or a free-standing wall– the bright cones move in steady criss-crossed formations complemented by a soundtrack by mccall and david grubbs.

the horizontal works include ‘you and I’ (2005), ‘doubling back’ (2003), and ‘leaving (with two-minute silence)’ (2009) and the vertical pieces are ‘meeting you halfway’ (2009), ‘coupling’ (2009), ‘between you and I’ (2006), and ‘breath III’ (2005). the pieces are all quicktime movie files made lively by video projection, haze machine and soundtracks lasting anywhere from 15 to 50 minutes in duration.

detailed perspective of the slivers of light hitting a flat surface

a viewer interacts with the sculptural work

installation perspective

a view of the gallery space picturing the moving light sculptures looking towards the entrance to the darkened room

the luminescent figures slowly turn, only observed when viewers watch the end point of the projection

‘anthony mccall | hamburger bahnhof – museum für gegenwart – berlin’ by staatliche museen zu berlin by smbchannel

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