Art meets Technology 2024: „Mobility!”
Mobility is a characteristic of all living things, influenced by the physical force of time. Only with the invention of film, 150 years ago, did it become possible to depict movement. The medium of painting contrasts with the dynamics of existence through the stillness of the picture surface. This contradiction has posed a pictorial challenge for centuries. The aim to represent time and movement has led to artistic innovations and abstractions that have shaped entire eras. The topic’s announcement sparked an enthusiastic response from the group of students. “Mobility” is existential and is almost fanatically celebrated in our culture. Collective enthusiasm for speed, sport, and modes of transportation underscores the importance we place on saving time through increased mobility — or at least maintaining our vitality. The seminar discussionsm thus evolved into a broad thematic spectrum that extended beyond art-historically established representations of movement to encompass social, economic, and historical aspects. In contrast to the movement it portrays, the paradox of the stationary canvas highlights the unique quality of painting as a medium. We, caught in the vortex of time and development, need moments of pause to become aware of who we are. When the stillness of what is being viewed allows time for perception, contemplation may emerge instead of mere movement and awareness instead of reflex. Thus, the painting finds its eternal relevance as a sensual gateway to the search for knowledge. (Josef Mittlmeier)
Mobility is one of central issues for people – and always has been. From the very beginning, physical mobility has been driven by technical innovations. The automobile is a prime example of this. But the trend is continuing: electromobility is on the rise, and autonomous driving is just around the corner — and all of this is as CO2-neutral as possible. At AVL, we are working intensively on these future technologies worldwide. That is why mobility is far more than just a topic for us; it is one of the central core points of our work. For us, mobility also means remaining flexible and creative in our thoughts and actions. This brings us full circle to our art project: it’s about being open, agile, and creative. With this in mind, we should continue to work on the mobility of the future with confidence and courage. (Dr. Georg Schwab)
Art stands for creative design, including various materials that the world and Mother Nature make available to us. Händlmaier has been producing mustard and sauce specialties with the purest, natural ingredients and using state-of-theart technology for 110 years. In 1914, Johanna Händlmaier showed great courage and creativity when she developed the recipe for sweet mustard in the family butcher’s shop to offer her customers something special to go with their
sausages. Today, we produce over 30 types of mustard, sauces, and dressings with great attention to detail and using the most precise high-tech equipment. From classic sweet mustard, medium-hot and unusual barbecue sauces, fruity barbecue sauces, and mustard compositions to low-carb salad dressings: Händlmaier has stood for outstanding mustard and sauces of the highest quality from the very beginning – thanks to art, creativity, courage, and technology. Standing still has never been our thing! Only those on the move can actively face the challenges of the times and find solutions and paths for the future.
Staying mobile, finding creative ways, daring to try new things, and implementing them quickly – this applies equally to the ‘Art meets technology’ project and our mustard production. We are looking forward to the ideas of the students from the University of Regensburg about ‘mobility’ in the “Art meets technology” project and the new compositions made from natural ingredients. (Franz Wunderlich)
Copyrights are with the authors
Anton Alešik: “The dream of mobility”
2024, 100 x 140 cm, oil on canvas
There is no creation without a dream. No matter what people create, ideas arise first in their minds and then may grow beyond them, taking on a life of their own. Whether it’s ships, airplanes, submarines, or cars: in the beginning, there was not much more than fantasy or mythology. Daedalus and Icarus, as well as the mermaids, are all personifications of the dream of mobility. The only thing that stands between the idea and its realization is time.
Julia-Helena Ettenhuber: “Peoplearetooclosetome”
2024, 100 x 140 cm, acrylic on canvas
In a very small space, with so many different people together in the same place and on the same route: This is local public transport. Nothing connects us except the moment until the next stop...
Lena Schmidt: “Escalator”
2024, 100 x 140 cm, oil on canvas
Being moved without moving: The shopping experience in maximum comfort seduces us into an artificial reality through the reflections on the escalator. Is looking into the mirror also a reflection of our own standstill?
Andrea Studt: “Way home I”
2024, 100 x 140 cm, acrylic on canvas
The loneliness in the city and the distance to those around us, with barriers and blockades everywhere, is the main theme of this painting. In the city, where one‘s mobility is determined by dependence on infrastructure, the distance to people who share this same dependency seems insurmountable, even if they are in the same situation, waiting for the train...
Corinna Bär: “1948”
2024, 100 x 140 cm, acrylic on canvas
The painting references an old black-and-white photograph of my grandparents. In the center of the picture is a tractor from 1939, photographed in 1948, as my grandfather drives across a field. Time ages the devices that make our daily work easier, but the desire for mobility remains ever present.
Luisa Merkl: “Focus”
2024, 100 x 140 cm, acrylic on canvas
In life, we repeatedly encounter moments of chaos where uncertainty and disorder dominate. At such times, our inner strength is put to the test. Here, we see that true mobility means remaining flexible and agile despite external turmoil. This agility refers not only to physical flexibility but also to mental adaptability. It enables us not to be overwhelmed by chaos but to manage it and transform it into order.
Carina Neuffer: “Newburger”
2024, 100 x 140 cm, acrylic on canvas
Aliens land with their spaceship in a desert at an abandoned diner. They start up a fast-food restaurant... The painting aims to ironically provoke thoughts about Earth’s current inhabitants’ near and distant future. Many fantastic visions of our era seem ridiculous or disillusioning in the face of present reality. A serious prognosis about the mobility of the future and potential extraterrestrial arrivals is impossible from our current perspective because no matter what we imagine now, it will not match the reality to come.
Alica Pratsch: “Catching Waves”
2024, 100 x 140 cm, acrylic on canvas
One with the sea and the flow, with just the sound of the water... Surfing is a form of mobility that is primarily an experience and not the mastery of a route. Free like a dolphin or a sea lion, swimming in the light on the water in colors, surfing takes you further than you can measure in kilometers. What are you waiting for? Take your surfboard and…
Sina Kopfmüller: “Breaking up”
2024, 100 x 140 cm, acrylic on canvas
Mobility and dynamics – for centuries, painting has captured moments of movement within the stillness of an unchanging picture surface. Where Marcel Duchamp‘s 1912 “Nude Descending a Staircase“ presented the paradox through fragmented forms, this painting adopts a more naturalistic approach. „Breaking up“ from a completely still position, stretching, spinning, and turning until the pictorial space is finally abandoned. The figure has escaped the viewer‘s gaze.
Rachel Dauenheimer: “The waiting point”
2024, 100 x 140 cm, acrylic on canvas
Urban regions offer mobility through many forms of transportation at frequent intervals. People there are more mobile than ever before. But what about areas where a bus comes only every few hours? Is the silence a curse or a blessing? Either way, it’s time to wait. In isolation, a growing longing to escape into the hustle emerges — a desire for mobility in a place that doesn’t need it.
Eliska Strnadova: “Land of milk and honey?”
2024, 100 x 140 cm, oil on canvas
In this painting, the vision of future mobility of goods through the use of drones comes to life. The work depicts a wide landscape with gentle hills and lush meadows that shine in bright colors — a land of milk and honey in the traditional sense, a place of abundance and carefree prospects. Futuristic technology in idyllic nature? We need a dialogue about the possibilities and challenges of future mobility. Where does the carelessness of such utopias end, and where does lethargy begin?
Selina Heiß: “Ten past eleven”
2024, 100 x 140 cm, oil on canvas
We often associate mobility with traffic and speed. “How do I get from A to B quickly?” But only those who are willing to consciously pause for a moment at a busy intersection in our hectic everyday lives and appreciate the scene — the lights of the surroundings painting on the wet asphalt. Mobility is not necessarily loud, busy, and exhausting. Mobility can also be colorful and beautiful in its own way.
Cinzia Villa: “La storia di uno di noi –” (The story of one of us)
2024, 100 x 140 cm, acrylic on canvas
„Mobility“ as the fate of economic migration: The view into a small apartment is based on the accounts of my parents. Sparse furnishings, memories, and suitcases illustrate many guest worker families’ “zero hour” situation. The little boy stands on the threshold between yesterday and tomorrow, between here and there — facing the great unknown and a foreign language on one side, and his old friends and homeland on the other. The yellow and red towels reference the Sicilians, while the Pulcinella alludes to the Neapolitans in my family. The postcard on the cupboard depicts the piazza in Centuripe, the birthplace of the little boy in the picture. The bars in front of the window were actually present at my father‘s accommodation in Munich. The view outside shows a snow-covered Bavarian forest in 1969. No clothing or heating can shield against the cold of xenophobia.