Alexander Hahn (*1954, Rapperswil) works in the electronic and digital media arts in Europe and America. Since 1981, he has transformed events from his personal life, history, and science into art, making use of the inner worlds of the psyche, memories, and dreams.
He integrates the time-based forms of video with the practice of computer-generated imagery. His art is distinguished by the expression of these images, animation, virtual reality, installations, and writing about new media. After his first solo exhibition The Bernoulli Itinerary (1991) and numerous contributions to media-based exhibitions, the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen is now presenting an overview of his fascinating work at the forefront of media art with a focus on the Indian Cycle, which was made possible by a grant from Pro Helvetia and the Canton of St. Gallen.
The Kunstmuseum St. Gallen is presenting «Memory of Light – Light of Memory», a large survey of my video installations, kinetic objects, video vignettes and computer generated images: brand new works like the LED mosaic «Transit of Earth» (2022) or the 3D computer graphic image «The Sands of Mars» (2022); a few pieces from my repertoire, tailored for this exhibition, e.g. «On the Nature of Things» (1996), the video installation with the venerable rain machine; parts of the extensive «Indian Cycle», shown for the first time in Switzerland with a premiere of «Thomas Daniell in the Ruins of Naurattan» (2022).
Curator: Roland Wäspe
29 October 2022 – 2 April 2023, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen
Source: Kunstmuseum St. Gallen
BIOGRAPHY
Alexander Hahn (b. 1954, Rapperswil, Switzerland) has worked in the electronic and digital media arts in Europe and America since the mid 1970s, integrating the time-based forms of video with practices of computer imagery and print, animation, virtual reality, installation, and writing. A graduate of the Zurich University of Arts with a degree in art education (1979), he participated in the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program in New York (1981). He lives and works in New York and Zurich.
The recipient of numerous honors and awards, Hahn’s work has been exhibited in many solo and group exhibitions and film festivals from New York to Zurich, Sydney to Berlin, Beijing to New Delhi. He’s had major retrospectives at the Kunstmuseum Solothurn, Switzerland, Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria, and the Padiglione d’Arte Moderna, Ferrara, Italy. Currently, the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland, is presenting an immersive survey of his work, entitled Memory of Light – Light of Memory (through Apr 02, 2023).
In addition to reviews in ZKM Mediagramm, Art Papers, Radio WBAI, NY, Huffington Post, Il Manifesto, Basler Zeitung, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Berliner Zeitung, Kunstbulletin and others, various monographs have been published, most notably Alexander Hahn – Works 1976-2007, Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg/DE (2007) and Astral Memories of a Flying Man, Musée Jenisch, Vevey/CH (2002).
There are two documentaries about his work: 3 Approaches by Matthias Behrens (1994) and Words of Artists/Portraits of Artists by Catherine Gfeller (2012).
Source: Alexander Hahn
https://www.alexanderhahn.com/