Christian
Lauchenauer

Born and raised in eastern Switzerland, Christian Lau- chenauer has lived and worked in Basel since studying industrial design in north-west Switzerland. His years as a student opened up the world of design to him, whereby he focussed intensively on the question of interaction between people and objects. Gradually, the design focus shifted: the investigation of the interaction between objects and their meaningfulness replaced the purpose- and consumption-orientated design questions.

Specifically, it is the mechanisms or systems of the human psyche and society that are the main component of his artistic process. He literally constructs moving, repetitive mechanisms that transport the content in harmony with the aesthetic concept. Mechanical mechanisms in machines or simple motion sequences often serve as inspiration. He investigates how the interacting forces in a system mutually determine and balance each other. The resulting balance often characterises the simultaneously existing imbalance. Based on the assumption that human beings are firmly connected to their environment, the artist attempts to derive consequences from this, as well as to overcome the duality that often suppresses the higher gain in knowledge. Among other things, he relies on the means of repetition, which - similar to a mantra - can intuitively evoke new perspectives in the viewer.

The creative process is constantly caught between control and chance. During the artistic work, numerous experiments result in random objects and sketches that serve as the starting point for new sculptures. This tension provokes a game, whereby never enough can be brought under control or never enough can be experimented with. A key criterion here is the Japanese artist Shih-t'ao's conviction of the non-methodical: "The perfect man has no method. Or rather, he follows the best of all methods, which is to be non-methodical."