FRACTAL SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH

In his artistic practice, Markus Selg deals with structures and organisms that are based on self-similarity. This term, coined by Benoît Mandelbrot in 1970, is used in the field of mathematics. Through the calculation of fractal dimensions, artificial objects can be realistically approximated to nature. Examples of fractals include ferns, that, when zoomed in, are made up of a multitude of small leaves similar to the plant structure, nervous systems with billions of neurons, as well as collections of star clusters. They are based on repeating similar patterns that form the basis for the growth of self-organised systems and, at the same time, only exist in mutual dependence.

For “The Sun Is Coming Down”, Markus Selg has created ten glass cabinets with “FRACTAL SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH” that are dioramas of other worlds as well as installation-based time capsules in the same manner. They show the traces of other decades and provide glimpses of alternative worlds. They are complemented by a soundscape created by the artist Richard Janssen, which accompanies the path of the visitors from the ground floor of the ICC and further inside. The cabinets, combined with light and sound elements, present alternative space-time sections like in a world of science fiction. The scenarios presented react to the antiquated architecture of the ICC and present fractal objects, which form their own hyperspace as found from nature and the archaic, high technology, and mysticism. And so, in the deep slumber of the spaceship that is the ICC, a synthetic reality, based on the fractal algorithm of an artist, becomes visible through the graphic structures of Markus Selg.