Cyrill Lachauer & The Destruction of Artistic Classification

 

    In regard to art in 2021, much of what we see now in online exhibitions, virtual galleries, film screenings, and live streams are a direct response to our circumstance and the conditions of the world today. Cyrill Lachauer is no stranger to this examination of the world and direct response within his art. 32 m.ü.NHN. –114,7 m.ü.NHN. (II) is an examination of Germany and European society and Lachauer expresses it in his unique hybrid of visual art and film. The restrictions that result from the Covid-19 pandemic on artists’ ability to share their work with the world has not restricted Lachauer as he is not reliant on human subjects or large-scale productions for his art and his work holds weight in the artistic community virtually as much as it does when it is presented physically. He actually continues to strive, and his style of work is not inhibited by the circumstances. The Berlinsche Galeria Museum of Modern Art showcased the piece virtually. Lachauer’s examination of Germany through his abstract style, and the separation between sound and image destroys traditional classification of art as it is not only a film, but a visual art piece. When art is created, it should not be restricted in its presentation to the world, and Lachauer’s 32 m.ü.NHN. –114,7 m.ü.NHN. (II) could be seen at a film festival or displayed in a gallery.

            The audio and visual components of the work are independent of each other. What this means is that they exist as their own works of art and could be presented without each other just as powerfully as they are together. As a work that escapes traditional classification, it is a powerful tool to state that the piece is not always a film, and in many ways, it is a moving image when the sound is removed. The audio was introduced before the visual elements. The commencement of the audio was intense and there was a horn-like sound that reverberated at a low, guttural pitch. It can be associated with a physical instrument or naturalistic sound, and while it is not specifically associated with anything we see, it creates a tension and sense of urgency when paired with the images. This adds to the way the pieces exist without each other and create new meaning when combined. Additionally, the sound plays before the visual elements, solidifying its prominence as the first element the viewer/listener absorbs. The sound is split into two unique pieces, with a break in the middle. The first piece is the low, guttural, naturalistic sound, and after a few minutes of silence, that sound changes. The new sound piece begins with a higher pitched sound that can be associated with a strumming that occurs randomly. That shifts to a loud synthesized sound that also plays randomly. The strumming and the synthesizer pair with each other and the sound seems more fabricated and electronic, in contrast to the instrumental, naturalistic horn sound in the first sound piece. The sound and its powerful existence not only solidifies it as its own work, but solidifies the images as their own work as well, which is Lachauer presenting work that simply cannot exist as just a film or just a visual art piece, but instead exists in multiple classifications.

            The other side of this work is the visual element, and the components of it that maintain its status as art that could exist in a gallery with other visual art pieces as much as it could in a film festival selection. Captured by a film camera, the visual component of the hybrid visual art/film is introduced after the sound, and it is illustrated with coloured smoke and a varying backdrop. The smoke is a dynamic subject, as it begins grey and changes to red and orange tones, green, and eventually white. The backdrop that changes throughout the piece is characterized by the trees that exist behind the green smoke and shift to be silhouetted amidst the white smoke. The smoke fills the frame throughout the piece which provides a sense of congestion and a prominence to the smoke as the subject of the film and was seemingly a close-up shot of the smoke akin to a close-up of a human subject in a film, which has association to dramatic, important scenes. It is evident that the imagery can exist without the sound and vice versa but the pairing is a new, powerful piece, which blends the visual art and film spaces together.

            Ari Benjamin Meyers is the composer who is responsible for the sound component of the film, and he uses his abilities and sound creations to shape his understanding of the ever-growing abundance of smoke and its progression created by Lachauer. Meyers is a talented artist and composer from Long Island, New York, in the United States, and working with Cyrill Lachauer who is from Germany, making a piece directly related to Germany is a very interesting challenge, and it’s possible that some independence between the sound and the image can be from Meyer’s interpretation of the meaning behind Lachauer’s imagery. Nonetheless, Meyers’ sound elements are profound and do provide a sense of progression and intensity related to the smoke. Cyrill Lachauer is a very talented visual artist and filmmaker from Berlin, and he is known for making works relating to the European conquest of the rest of the world. Lachauer’s 32 m.ü.NHN. –114,7 m.ü.NHN. (II) is instead an evaluation of the modern world around him. The smoke is and its prominence is related to the prominence of smoke in football games, protests, and the smoke used by Law Enforcement as a response. While released in January 2021, the piece obviously consists of an evaluation of ongoing events over the past few years, especially 2020. Additionally, the smoke and the differences between each colour are representations of the metropolitan areas of Berlin and are a personal examination by Lachauer on his surroundings.

            In its entirety, the smoke feels very suffocating. There is no way around this interpretation as the smoke fills the screen, and without prior knowledge of Lachauer’s work or his intention with the piece, it presents itself in a manner that relates to the natural environment rather than the metropolitan world. Perhaps this irony is intentional as the smoke represents Berlin’s Metropolitan areas which are a result of industrialization and an elimination of the naturalistic environment. A byproduct is the carbon emission that destroys the nature, the same way the smoke fills the frame and covers the trees in the background in Lachauer’s piece. The suffocation I felt from the smoke was definitely a powerful association to my interpretation as it seemed to portray the suffocation not only on nature, but to wildlife and biodiversity, which resulted in a very serious emotional response. While not all viewers will be familiar with the context of Berlin unless they are familiar with Lachauer’s previous work, the possible interpretations of the piece are endless and important, nonetheless. Lachauer’s piece is powerful not only related to his own intentional representations but related to what can be inferred from the piece and the relationship between the sound and the imagery.

            It’s likely that in every aspect, there is no missed opportunities or areas of imperfection within Lachauer’s piece. The reason behind the essential completeness of the piece, is its abstract nature and the independence between the sound and imagery. The sounds created by Meyers are a work of art on its own and Lachauer’s visual components are their own work of art. Both are abstract and do not directly point to a specific circumstance but allows for varying interpretation relating to the examination of the modern world. A powerful byproduct of Lachauer’s piece and its existence in a virtual gallery in 2021, is that it blends between the visual art and film genre. It is obvious that, if that were Lachauer’s choice, the piece could be presented on a loop in a physical gallery as a visual art piece, but it could also be screened in a cinema. The piece blends art categorization and essentially eliminates labels that result in an advancement of artistic practices as a whole. 32 m.ü.NHN. –114,7 m.ü.NHN. (II) is an important piece for the world to view and hear in 2021, not only because of its impact on the world, and its examination of our current circumstances, but also the weight it holds in the world of art.