Jonas Roßmeißl ‚Die neue Statik | a new static‘ | Press review

Die neue Statik | a new static is the first solo exhibition by Jonas Roßmeißl at Klemm’s. The show opened on the occasion of Berlin Gallery Weekend *Discoveries.

(…) At Klemm’s, Jonas Roßmeißl crafts a stage of contemporary surveillance and alludes to the causalities it creates. Physical works feature gearmotors-as-shredders, but a hidden jammer also disables cellular service within the gallery and the lights are in fact a new technology patented by the artist; the lighting may seem normal enough, but when you go to take a photo, patterns flash across the screen. Beyond these shadowy flickers, the lights imprint patterns within the pixels themselves, allowing Roßmeißl to trace every photo taken within the exhibition that is uploaded online. (…)

(…)Next door, we visited the exhibition of Jonas Roßmeißl at Klemm’s, aptly titled ‘a new static’. Roßmeißl is a young artist and this body of work demonstrates a clear, distinctive and cutting voice. In the exhibition, he shows a model of the Statue of Liberty holding an open box of medication and a garden gnome that has been sliced and fragmented. These symbols are immediately recognisable, but each with their unique intervention. This feels like a sharp critique of the current state of our priorities as a society. We’ve mixed everything with synthetics and ruined the authenticity of what we cherish. The most striking piece in his exhibition is a framed work at the entrance. It holds endlessly running gear wheels eating their way through textile, and feels like a pointed nod towards our boundless consumption as humans. In an bold and impactful move, Roßmeißl chose to install light fixtures above each of the works, which would prevent visitors from taking a clear photo of the exhibition. Each attempt results in a static disturbance, as the title suggests. This power move—controlling how and when we can admire the work—is another example of biting social commentary by the artist, this time directed at our inability to enjoy experiences unfiltered through our phones.(…)

(…) Jonas Roßmeißl is an interdisciplinary artist who employs historical motifs around machinery and technology to create sculptural objects. Roßmeißl’s sculptures inquire into the forms and conditions of representation under ‚repressive systems‘, the influence of technology, and rationalised production. The new static refers to the sensation of static in continuous movement. Three sculptural clusters will be on display challenging the viewer’s spatial perception.(…)

(…)Ich lebe in Leipzig, doch produziere ich meine Arbeiten überwiegend im ländlichen Raum. Ein Signifikant Leipzigs scheint mir zu sein, dass hier teils andere Vergesellschaftungsbedingungen vorherrschen. Das Verhältnis zwischen Arbeit und der Verfasstheit des Subjekts bricht hier auf seltsame Weise mit der verwalteten Welt. Diese Entrückung birgt eine Neigung zur Lethargie, die es wiederum konstruktiv zu brechen gilt.(…)

Jonas Roßmeißl (b. 1995, Erlangen, Germany) lives and works in Leipzig and Uttenreuth (Germany). He has studied media art with Prof Peggy Buth at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig (HGB, Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig). Roßmeißl’s works have been the subject of various solo and group exhibitions, including: Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn (Germany); Zitadelle (Museum: Berlin und seine Denkmäler), Berlin (Germany); Domizil Büro, Leipzig (Germany); Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (Germany); Kunstverein Leipzig (Germany); Neues Museum, Nuremberg (Germany); Galerie KLEMM’S, Berlin (Germany). 

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