Octagonal Expansion

Octagonal Expansion, iron, powder coated, 254 x 212 x 161 cm, 2013

The themes that Pascal Häusermann tackles in sur-impressions become increasingly significant as the exhibition continues. Works are presented that were produced in the context of a residency in Paris. In connection with the intense intercultural exchange between France and Islamic countries, Häusermann concentrated on the tradition of Moroccan and Moorish influences on art. He set himself the goal, for example, of taking mosaics, the patterns of wall paintings and ornamental reliefs on facades as a starting point for forming the flat motifs into three-dimensional structures. In Octagonal Extension (2013, > third room from the right), for example, the artist has playfully used lines from a mosaic to create a sculpture whose three-dimensionality is immediately negated by its own shadow. In other works the tracery of the mosaic acts as a symbol for the (urban) labyrinth which Walter Benjamin discusses in Passagen-Werk: „The city is the realisation of the old dream that humans have of the labyrinth. Without knowing it, the flaneur pursues this reality. » Inspired by Benjamin’s thought, Häusermann creates links between the mosaics and city plans or the Paris metro system and thus connects the geometric patterns with an orientation system. On the other hand, the combination of religious and urban ornamental forms evokes numerous associations with the social and cultural life of Paris.

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