PRESENCE
PRESENCE by installation & Performance by Franz Klainsek
“At Ad Astra, Presence evolved into a pattern of a precisely calculated geometric form. ”
MANA CONTEMPORARY announces Ad Astra, an exhibition curated by Ysabel Pinyol Blasi that takes its title from the Latin maxim Per aspera, ad astra (“Through hardship, to the stars”). A collaboration with Pinta Art Fair Miami, Ad Astra interrogates the relationship of dedicated hard work and high-flying ambition to big ideas and creative success, often through physically grandiose images and objects. The grand and the visionary resonate here with the downright strange in an inquiry after the nature of human achievement. Featuring works inspired by real and imaginary spaces identified with its makers’ points of origin—many of which are reconfigured for the former soundstage in which they are displayed—Ad Astra revolves around hard-won transitions and surprising results.
“Feels like all my life I was in search of something. Having no clue what I was looking for but I was searching. In my first moment of awakening. I knew I had found it.”
“Ad Astra” invited artists to build site-specific works that reflect on “the artist’s journey . . . the effort each makes to reach a moment of glory”.
Franz Klainsek spends 29 days balancing one gold nail after another on their heads. The concept of the piece is a full commitment to the present moment. Present with every choice; the performance art piece is fueled by moment to moment intention. The space where every breath is channeled into the creation of the piece.
“Present. Nail to nail; breath to breath; choice to choice” - he creates a striking installation work. The work is a visually emotional masterpiece that stands in the sophistication of simplicity. The piece creates a relationship with light and shadow that further brings this living work to life.
The installation ends with a final performance; when the work is destroyed and nails become nails again. The finale is channeled from the evolutionary space of letting go and the power of detachment.
At Ad Astra, Presence evolved into a pattern of a precisely calculated geometric form. Crystal entities hover over the entirety of the piece.
Selected PRESS:
MIAMI HERALD:
HERE IS SOME OF THE COOLEST STUFF WE HAVE SEEN SO FAR DURING MIAMI ART WEEK 2018
(ONLINE) https://www.miamiherald.com/miami-com/things-to-do/article225811960.html / (PRINT)
CNN DINERO: CNN en Español
CNN interviews Franz Klainsek at PINTA Miami, 2018
(see the video clip bellow)
The installation ends with a final performance; when the work is destroyed and nails become nails again. The finale is channeled from the evolutionary space of letting go and the power of detachment.
