Swiss artist Pe Lang is one of the participants in the 2012 edition of the ZERO1 Biennial, a contemporary art event that showcases innovative artists who are working at the interface of art and technology. At the main venue of this year’s ZERO1 Biennial, the ZERO1 Garage in San Jose (California), Pe Lang presents two of his works: Falling Objects and Moving Objects. In this video, Sophie Lamparter of Swissnex San Francisco provides us with an introduction to Pe Lang’s work.

Pe Lang was born in Sursee (Switzerland) in 1974. He lives and works in Berlin and Zurich. He has had exhibitions in various international institutions, galleries and festivals such as Galerie Mario Mazzoli, Berlin; Sound and Space, Tokyo; Växjö Art Hall, Sweden; San Francisco Art Institute, USA. He has received numerous awards and residency fellowships such as Sitemapping / Mediaprojects Award (2011, 2008 and 2005), Swiss Art Award (2009 and 2010), and artists-in-labs residency, Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (2007).

Commissioned by ZERO1 and presented with support from Swissnex San Francisco, Pe Lang presents two artworks at ZERO1 Garage in San Jose: Moving Objects | nº 692 – 803 (2012) is an installation consisting of 128 motors, 3,000 rings, and silicon wire. While Moving Objects plays with randomness, Falling Objects | Positioning Systems (2009-2012) shows the beauty of precision. Falling Objects is a custom made machine that adds drops of water onto a special textured surface. Each drop forms into an almost perfect sphere through the surface tension of the water and the omniphopic Material. The electronically controlled pipette wanders through a square grid of 21 x 21 drops to form a micro-matrix and returns to the beginning. After approximately 300 minutes, and when the water drops have evaporated, the same process starts again.

The works are presented as part of the exhibition Seeking Silicon Valley at the ZERO1 Garage in San Jose, California, with the support from Swissnex San Francisco. Swissnex San Francisco connects people and projects between Switzerland and North America in the fields of science, education, art, and innovation. It’s an initiative of Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER), managed in cooperation with the Department of Foreign Affairs as an annex of the Consulate General of Switzerland in San Francisco.

Pe Lang: Falling Objects, Moving Objects at ZERO1 Biennial 2012 San Jose (California). Introduction by Sophie Lamparter, Head of Interdisciplinary Programs, Swissnex San Francisco. ZERO1 Garage, San Jose, September 12, 2012.

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