pulsators, 2024
Schahed Javanbakhsh is an artist who imagines and produces his installations with a precision and elegance that the design industry could envy. His practice is characterized not by the themes he addresses – which can be very varied – but by his approach to the subjects and materials used. The artist takes particular pleasure in making mechanisms visible: how things are made or how people behave, for example. He casts a gaze on the world, which he translates into sculptures inspired by architecture, signage, and public amenities. His gaze is an observation of a world in transformation; it is non-judgmental but demonstrates a desire to have a say and an impact in the visual world. At the Kunstmuseum Appenzell, Javanbakhsh presents pulsators.
You may have seen this monumental piece from the parking lot or even from the train. Its base recalls the "Baumschütze", or tree protectors; those that encircle the trees along the roadside that you count down while jogging; those that set the pace of the city. Here, twisted counterclockwise, you may recognize the symbol this Baumschutz now embodies. Move from side to side, take as much distance as possible. Step out of the museum if necessary and look at it from afar. Ready to pair. On this overturned B is a large-format speaker made of perforated steel, a material particularly used by Swiss architects for noise absorption purposes. A solid wooden stencil narrates a manufacturing tradition that no longer exists or is nearly obsolete: stroking the clay to shape the bell. Please, do not touch! Of course, its slow rotational movement points to the question of time: one doesn‘t even see it passing. It just keeps dusting endlessly. An ingenious system suggests the autonomy of its mechanism; what if it only creates its own problems? Will you have the patience to see it move? It will take a minute for 3 millimeters, an hour for 18 millimeters, and 24 hours for a complete turn. Time seems even longer when no device is able to connect...
Katia Leonelli (translated from French, P24)