Welcome to my wonder wall

If you thought contemporary art was cold and detached, you’ve probably not encountered Jeppe Hein. The Danish-born, Berlin-based artist is one of Europe’s most confrontational artists, with his works not only challenging the viewer, but directly involving them in the process.

As an example, his work Bear the Consequences (2003) involves a gas-powered flame shooting from the gallery wall. As the visitor approaches, the flame expands towards them. In 360º Presence (2002), he literally destroyed a gallery space with a free-moving metal sphere. And in The Smoking Bench (2003), visitors are invited to sit on an apparently ordinary bench. When they do, a cloud of smoke is released, and visitors (who are facing a mirror) finds themselves disappearing into the smoke.

Now Jeppe Hein is in Sydney with his latest international contemporary art exhibition, Neonwall. The installation is a wall of neon lights that switch off as the viewer approaches. One side of the wall is interactive. If you walk along the wall, the neon modules turn off - one after the other. As they turn on and off, the light modules change from a live, healthy, humming luminescence to a dull, cloudy object but the moment the visitor leaves, all of the neon lights are restored again.

Hein’s international profile has been steadily on the rise, particularly since he exhibited his outdoor installation, Water Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2003. Although based in Europe, Hein’s work has become increasingly popular in the US, where he has been shown at the Museums of Contemporary Art in both Los Angeles and Chicago. This year, he also had a solo exhibition at Miami Beach’s Moore Space. His solo show Minimal Overload was exhibited at the Johann Konig Gallery in Berlin during May and June this year.

In support of the AGNSW’s showing of Neonwall, Jeppe Hein will be in Sydney from September 19.

David Edwards

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Jeppe Hein - Neonwall

Venue: Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Dates: 20 September - 6 November, 2005