Films

From the very beginning, the work of Roman Signer has been concerned with ephemeral events and the release of provoked and existing energies. His materials are natural forces such as water, wind, fire or gravity, which he relates to everyday objects such as stools, buckets, red kayaks, coloured barrels, remote-controlled flying objects or umbrellas and which repeatedly appear as leitmotifs in the artist’s work. The relationships between the visible action and the invisible physical processes lend Signer’s sculp-tures a sensual component.

The exhibition Films centres on Roman Signer’s work with the moving image, with a focus on works created in and around Appenzell since the 1970s. This is Roman Signer’s first solo exhibition in his hometown Appenzell, which spans over three floors of the Kunsthalle and the former brickworks and presents more than 120 films.

On the occasion of the exhibition, a Catalogue raisonné of all the Super 8 films will be published by Verlag Walther König, edited by Peter Zimmermann, Alexandra Signer and Stefanie Gschwend, with texts by Roman Signer, Stephan Kunz (Di-rector of the Bündner Kunstmuseum) and Stefanie Gschwend (Director of the Kunstmuseum / Kunsthalle Appenzell).

Roman Signer already began doing experiments as a child, without a thought to making art. Every material that fell into his hands was subject to investigation, including everyday materials or fire and fireworks. Looking back with hindsight, these were already artistic exercises, he says. He developed a fascination for bodies created from energy found in his immediate surroundings: in the Sitter, the river that flows through his home town of Appenzell and right past his doorstep, at the Leuenfall waterfall in Schwende-Rüte, where the Berndlibach stream thunderously plunges from a height of 34 metres into the depths, or in Glandenstein, at the end of the Weissbach valley, a little off the beaten track, but only a few minutes away from Weissbad. At first glance, this latter place is a large meadow surrounded by forest, rocks and the Weissbach (Stream). The expression commonly used in Appenzell for the place is ‘the end of the world’, which is still somewhat true today due to its remoteness. It is the place that marks the beginning of Roman Signer’s work.

Roman Signer conducted his experiments on his own, remote from the art world and exhibition venues. He filmed them in natural surroundings that served not merely as a backdrop or stage but formed an essential and formative component of the respective work. The room on the ground floor depicts the landscape of Appenzell, where Roman Signer began filming actions in Super 8 in 1975 and later recorded videos.

Rauchring (Smoke Ring, 1983) is an ephemeral trace created by the release of energy. Against the wintry backdrop of Weissbad in Appenzell, Signer stuck an aerosol can inside a metal pipe in the snow and blew a small hole in the can with a detonator. The escaping propellant gases ignited to form a fireball, which rose at lightning speed in the freezing cold air and formed a large, jet-black ring of smoke. The ring swirled upwards and then disappeared without a trace.

In Linie (Line, 1986), for example, Signer lays a long trail of gunpowder, positioning a stool in the last section. Wearing a fireproof silver suit, he sits on the stool, holding an open newspaper. The gunpowder is ignited and shoots in a line towards and beyond the artist, burning the newspaper.

As in a fairy tale, Tisch mit Ballonen (Table with Balloons, 1982) is carried up and away through the air by four balloons, but a burning fuse leading to the balloons causes them to burst and the table to plunge back down to earth. Flying objects such as balloons, helicopters, rockets and other items that Signer causes to fly or rise and fall, such as stools, tables and buckets, are vital to the artist’s practice. By making things fly, he creates a temporary state of the impossible.

In Bogen (Arc, 1978), Signer focuses his camera on a steeply rising section of forest that develops from a clearing. In this shot of a lush green landscape, everything seems to stand still. Nothing is happening, and yet the tension of what lies ahead is palpable. Suddenly, smoke erupts and spreads in the form of a broad, downward-sweeping arc from the top left to the top right of the picture. Recorded silently and without leaving a trace in the landscape, the geometric form made by the smoke slowly disappears into the trees and the air.

The settings are picturesque and deliberately chosen. Roman Signer always seeks out the ideal locations for his actions, at the same time capturing the surroundings on film. The respective backdrop serves as a pictorial space, with elements such as bridges or rivers that mark the landscape forming recurring motifs in his visual language.

The Nachtfahrt (Night Ride, 1999 / 2025), which is shown as a projection in a Piaggio, also ends at the ‘End of the World’. In the middle of the night, Roman Signer and his wife Aleksandra drove from St. Sallen to Weissbad, the place where the artist has already made many works and experiments. Aleksandra Signer filmed the whole journey through the front windscreen. They first drove on roads and then on a path that ended at the river in the forest. The 40-minute drive makes it apparent that Signer’s paths always lead back to his origins, despite his international career.

A vintage car is parked in front of the Kunsthalle. Roman Signer writes: «This car is rather special. It is a 1959 Warszawa. We wanted to drive it from Zakopane (PL) to Nantes (F), but we only managed to reach Linz (A), where it was loaded onto a trailer. We simply realised we would not make it in time for the exhibition opening, given our speed and the distance remaining. And we had to make it because the plan was to drive the Warszawa over the umbrellas inserted in the floor of the museum. […]» The film of the sculpture Regenschirme (Umbrellas, 2012), which was first realised at the HAB, Hangar à Bananes, Nantes in 2012, can be seen in the foyer of the Kunsthalle.

Signer captures the precisely planned actions, which are composed of the situation, the transformation of energy and the trace of the process on film or later on video. They go far beyond a filmic documentation of his actions and become an independent medium in his œuvre.

For the artist, Super 8 was a mode of communication that was capable of conveying his ephemeral sculptures in all their immediacy. Signer’s films rarely exceed the length of one Super 8 cassette: In three minutes, or sometimes in just a few seconds, a sculptural process is rendered visi-ble. This format, often featuring a flickering aesthetic and limited tech-nical possibilities, is particularly suita-ble for capturing fleeting moments or action sequences due to the dynamic character of the camera work.

“I had my first exhibition abroad in 1975. It was in Düsseldorf with Hartmut Kaminski. He ran a gallery on Karolinerstrasse. He was also a filmmaker and had the idea of making a small 16 mm film about one of my sculptures (Grosser Tropfen [Big Drop], 1975). [...] I bought a Super 8 camera and a projector and started making my own films. I must say, fortunately I started. It would have been good if I had started earlier. Because working with the films gave me a new perspective on my work. [...] In 1975, I mostly made trips alone by bicycle, train and post bus in the area around St.Gallen and made recordings of my work. I also had to take the necessary material with me. Sometimes, heavily packed, even on foot, I must have presented a strange appearance. I got to know Peter Liechti in 1983. [...] Emil Grubenmann and Stefan Rohner also helped me. In my naivety, I thought I would be able to make Super 8 films all my life. I was ‘overrunʼ by video technology.” (Roman Signer)

Aktion mit einer Zündschnur (Action with a Fuse, 1989) marks Roman Signer’s departure from Appenzell. Symbolising the shift of the focal point of his life and work, Signer for the sculpture laid a fuse over a period of 35 days from Appenzell to St.Gallen, covering a distance of 20.6 kilometres along the railroad tracks. The sections of the fuse were connected with the help of couplings and furnished with gunpowder. At each of the 260 couplings, the fire triggered a small explosion along the fuse, the explosions coming together to mark an arc of movement between the start and finish points. It consists of a series of short, two- to three-second sequences in which the explosions are strung together like flashes of light. The moving images flicker up briefly as the explosions disappear into the black night, just as quickly as they appeared. During the day, the landscape sections where the ignitions took place can be seen in a brief flash before the next sequence begins.

This room focuses on works created outside Appenzell. In addition to films and videos, documentations of actions staged in front of an audience are shown, representing important moments in Roman Signer’s career. Roman Signer began working with video technology in the early 1990s. Aleksandra Signer, Roman Signer’s wife and artistic companion, has been responsible for the camera and editing. Tomek Rogowiec, Signer’s assistant, creates the constellations that are sometimes used for the recordings. Works such as Schwarzes Tuch (Black Cloth, 1994), 56 kleine Helikopter (56 Small Helicopters, 2008) and Heufieber (Hay fever, 2006) were created as videos, but convey the same spirit of the Super 8 films.

The use of film and video technology changed the way events were seen that Signer once carried out in seclusion. His process-oriented working method, the basic laws of physics, and the ephemeral as components of his visual language were now captured and recorded on film, expanding the concept of sculpture from something static to something moving. At the same time, the use of Super 8 film and video goes beyond mere documen-tation, because the technology itself becomes an artistic material and thus an integral part of the perception of the work. The sculpture is shaped conceptually by pressing the shutter release. Signer creates not only through his artistic hand but through his precise plan, the material he uses, the elements, the energy, the laws of nature and finally the camera.

In Ballon unter Eis (Balloon under Ice, 1988), the artist uses a hose to inflate a large balloon underneath the ice covering a frozen lake until the ice cracks and rises up and finally a large ice floe breaks away. The balloon pops up out of the water through this opening. The expectation that the released energy will be transformed in a different manner is present. Although the event is predictable, the result is surprising. The element of randomness in the destruction of the ice and the colour of the balloon, which appears abstract and diffuse under the ice and then suddenly breaks into the picture in bright red, resolve the expectations of the work and its experimental character in a poetic visual experience.

For his Aktion vor der Orangerie (Action in front of the Orangerie, 1987) at documenta 8 in Kassel, which was documented by Peter Liechti, Signer arranged 350 stacks of paper, each containing 1,000 sheets, in a row. These 350,000 sheets of paper were catapulted into the air simultaneously by explosive charges to form for a brief moment a fluttering wall of paper 15 metres high and 300 metres long. The technical realisation of the event with the help of a demolition expert and its sheer scale mark a departure from the sculptures that Signer had created in seclusion. And yet, the evocation of a poetic moment through the combination of material and energy is similar in this ephemeral monument.

In 2005, on the occasion of the Seetal Poetry Summer at Hallwyl Castle, Roman Signer’s artistic texts were not read out to the audience as one would expect, but his descriptions of the actions were translated into sign language and recited by a sign language interpreter. The texts, which describe the process of an action in the artist’s own words, were given a new visual form with a pictorial character through the translation, thus opening up a further level of perception of Signer’s work.

Inspired by this event, in 2006 Roman Signer commissioned a video recording of the interpreter Gabriela Spörri translating selected actions, resulting in the installation Gebärdensprache (Sign Language, 2006). The artist combined these black and white recordings of the interpreter’s gestures and facial expressions with his actions on Super 8 film. There are two versions of the installation: two tube monitors stacked on the floor, combining the action and the translation into sign language, or on flat screens in portrait format with a split screen. For the first time, all 20 videos, which are today in different collections, can be seen together. The artist’s actions, shot on Super 8, are films without sound, which, unlike the texts translated into sign language, do not primarily create accessibility for the deaf, but rather open up a further dimension of seeing for the viewer.

As you explore the brickworks you will find more films, for example in the kiln, in the library, in the open space or by the concrete staircase. In the ‘ravine’ behind the kiln, ‘leftover films’ are shown, which bring together footage of discarded film material, experimental set-ups, preparations for actions, travel documentation and other film sequences.

Bistro

In Weihnachtsbaum (Christmas Tree, 1993), Signer stands on a bridge high above the River Sitter and throws a fir tree with a metal tip on the end of its trunk over the parapet like a spear. The tree flies in an arc down to the ground and burrows into the earth, where it remains standing, just as if it had always been there. The artist often works with different directions of movement triggered through thrust and gravity, which then determine the form taken by the respective sculpture.

Plattform

Schusslinie (Line of Fire, 1999) consists of two monitors facing each other at eye level. The first monitor shows the artist himself holding a rifle in his hand and taking aim. The second monitor shows a balloon that bursts at a precisely calculated moment – triggered by the artist’s shot. The tension between the calm, controlled moment of pulling the trigger and the sudden bursting of the balloon creates an absurd atmosphere between humour and threat.

In this work, Signer combines his characteristic exploration of time, energy and physical processes and thematises the relationship between cause and effect, action and reaction. The artist himself becomes part of the action by firing the shot that bursts the balloon. But the viewer also becomes part of the installation when he moves into the line of fire between the monitors.

Sculptures in Public Space

You will find sculptures by Roman Signer in the public spaces of Appen-zell, Gonten and the surrounding coun-tryside. Further works can be found in front of the Hotel Hof Weissbad, in the lobby and in the adjacent park.

www.kunstlandschaft.ch/karte

If you fancy a Signer walk along the Sitter (9 km, relatively flat), choose route 1

www.kunstlandschaft.ch/karte/route/1

Roman Signer’s (*1938, Appenzell, lives and works in St.Gallen) solo exhibitions include Kunsthaus Zürich (2025), Comme des Garçons on Tokyo, Osaka and London (2024), Malmö Konsthall (2023), FRAC Franche-Comté in Besançon (2022), Pingshan Art Museum in Shenzhen (2019), Kunst-

haus Zug (2019), Kunstmuseum St.Gallen (2018), Istituto Svizzero in Rome (2018), MAN Museum in Nuoro (2016), Middelheim Musuem in Antwerp (2016), Barbican Cur. Gallen (2018), the Istituto Svizzero in Rome (2018), the MAN Museum in Nuoro (2016), the Middelheim Musuem in Antwerp (2016), the Barbican Curve in London (2015), the Centre d’art in Cherbourg-Octeville (2015), the Kunsthaus Zug (2015), the KINDL Centre for Con-temporary Art in Berlin (2014), the Kunstmuseum St.Gallen (2014), at the Kunsthalle Mainz (2012), at the HAB Gallery in Nantes (2012), at the Sala de Arte Publico Siqueiros in Mexico City (2011), at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin (2007), at the Istituto Svizzero di Centro Nazionale di Fotografia / Museo Diocesano in Padua (2007), at the Aargauer Kunst-haus in Aarau (2006), at the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea in Santiago de Compostela (2006), at the Camden Art Centre in London (2001), at the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht (2000), at the FRAC Poltou-Charentes in Angoulême (1993), at the Kunstmuseum St.Gallen (1993), the Helm-haus Zurich (1992) and Le Creux de l’Enfer in Thiers (1992).

Roman Signer has participated in numerous international art exhibitions, including documenta 8 in Kassel (1987), the Yokohama Per-formance Art Festival (1987), the Skulpturen Projekte in Münster (1997), the Venice Biennale (1999) and the Shanghai Biennale (2012). In 1999 he represented Switzerland at the Venice Biennale.

CURATORS
Stefanie Gschwend (Direktorin / director Kunstmuseum / Kunstmuseum Appenzell)

ORGANISATION
Regina Brülisauer, Stefanie Gschwend, Luca Tarelli

EXHIBITION INSTALLATION
Christian Hörler, Christian Meier, Tomek Rogowiec, Ueli Alder, Bea Dörig, Raoul Doré, Flavio Hodel, Carina Kirsch, Elias Menzi, Luca Tarelli

ART EDUCATION
Domenika Chandra

MUSEUM ATTENDANTS
Rita Dobler, Dominique Franke, Margrit Gmünder, Ian Groll, Priska Hüsler, Barbara Metzger, Heneisha Morris, Madleina Rutishauser, Luca Tarelli, Petra Zinth

EDITOR
Kunstmuseum / Kunsthalle Appenzell

TEXT
Stefanie Gschwend

PROOFREADING & TRANSLATION
Carmen Ebneter, Stefanie Gschwend, Katja Naumann

GRAPHIC DESIGN
Data-Orbit / Michel Egger, St.Gallen

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Caroline Achaintre, Elif Akinci, Cristian Andersen, Aufdi Aufdermauer, Andreas Brülisauer, Marianne Burki, Sebastian Bürkner, Giovanni Carmine, Nicole Cherubini, Martin Chramosta, Collezione la Gaia, Carmen D’Apollonio, Woody De Othello, Edmund de Waal, Robert Diament, Myriam Gebert, Clare Goodwin, Lena Guévry, Tom Gut, Matthias Haldemann, Cora Hansen, Michael Janssen, Christa Kamm, Matt Kirkum, Jannik Konle, Kunsthaus Zug, Stephan Kunz, Leo Lencés, Fabienne Loosli, Felicity Lunn, Georgia Lurie, Isa Melsheimer, Lindsey Mendick, Erica Miranda, Mai-Thu Perret, Sebastiano Portunato, Shahpour Pouyan, Paloma Proudfoot, Emma Robertson, Tomek Rogowiec, Kacper Rozicki, Alexis Sarfati, Aleksandra Signer, Barbara Signer, Roman Signer, Annette Stadler, Team Kunstmuseum / Kunsthalle, Seraina von Laer, Karin Wegmüller, Peter Zimmermann, allen Stiftungen für Ihre substantielle Unterstützung und Ihr Vertrauen.