200 electric exit signs, permanent magnets, multi-sockets, metal structure, 405 cm (width) x 225 cm (height) x 15cm (depth)
‘Exit-Wall’ is a modular installation comprising hundreds of illuminant exit signs assembled by means of permanent magnets. Usually the signs are used in public spaces to indicate, in case of emergency, an escape route. By contrast, we are employing the exit signs like bricks of a wall to build a barrier. For us, the paradoxical nature of this assemblage, originating from the contradiction between the linguistic meaning of its constituting parts (the exit signs) and the physical obstacle it poses in reality, evokes the inherent ambiguities of limits in “real life”: architectural, political, cultural, psychological, technological...
The project relates to our continuous research about the new (im)possibilities of exchange proposed by technology. In particular, our work revolves around the inherent ambiguity of the interface, providing both access to new territories and simultaneously separating us from other parts of reality. Like an interface, our wall promises an exit, an access to the other side, but also constitutes a physical separation.
Cecile Colle, born 1974 in Lyon, lives in Roubaix (France). She obtained a Diplome National Superieur d’Etudes Plastiques at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts (Bourges) in 1999.
Ralf Nuhn, born 1971 near Kassel (Germany), lives between Roubaix and London. He is a Research Fellow at the Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts in London where he has also obtained a PhD in 2007.
Since 2003, the two artists have developed a shared practice. Their work has been shown internationally, including the National Museum of Fine Arts (Taiwan), ZKM - Center for Art and Media (Germany), V&A - National Museum of Childhood (London), CASO Gallery (Japan), Haus am Luetzowplatz (Berlin).
Image: Exit-Wall, 2010
Photo: Courtesy of the Artist.