MichaelSailstorfer

"Acts of intervention, of deconstruction and reconstruction, are central to the sculptural works of Michael Sailstorfer (*1979). There is in his work a pre-disposed sense of the given, a given that is quite literally given over to something else. Whether it is a natural space in the forest given over to artifice (Waldputz, 2000), or an old police car turned into a set of drums (Schlagzeug, 2003), there is always for both the maker and object realised a defining instinct of self-consuming playfulness. Familiar utility is turned with humour to uselessness, or, put another way, into an aesthetic usefulness... A house consumes itself in a boiler (3 Ster mit Ausblick, 2002)... bus shelters can just as readily find themselves as newly domesticated spaces (Wohnen mit Verkehrsanbindung, 2001)... street lamps need shades against the mosquitoes (M?ckenhaus, 2001)..."- Mark Gisbourne

"Michael Sailstorfer�s inclination toward architectural alchemy questions the historic dynamic of function. The artist appropriates objects with clear and practical purposes � sheds, lampposts, bus stops, and cars � to rearticulate them into other forms that are ironically distorted and highly dysfunctional." - Manifesta 5

Waldputz (wood cleaning), 2000

"Cast of the surface of the dark side of the moon"

MisApply, DmSubversion

"When Michael Sailstorfer places autos, airplanes, or street lanterns in new contellations these everyday objects bear their very own time, inscribed through design and the traces of their use. And what arises through them likewise not only opens up a special realm of signs, but also one of time: of simple being there, of gradual dissapearance, of explosive presence. The imaginary potential innate in the objects is then suddenly exposed, their subversive energy unleashed beyond all functional compulsions. Sailstorfer's objects readily show the fun they have in forcing our thoughts off the familiar and narrow. Yet they also attest to a sense of slight melancholy that arises when subversion of meaning becomes apparent."
-Massimiliano Gioni, Max Hollein, Johan F Hartle, Simone Subal. 2006. Michael Sailstorfer: Fur Immer War Gestern. Verlag Fur Moderne Kunst., p. 12

DmRecursiveFutility,DmSubversion

''speaking of 3 Ster mit Ausblick

"With playful irony, the artists change the meaning of the wood-burning stove. It no longer acts as the material and spiritual center of the house, but instead, becomes the internal aggressor that attacks the very foundationss of its own domesticity. Sailstorfer and Heinert's transformation denies the stove the role as a literal and metaphorical place of nourishment. On the contrary, its own self-nourishment leads to self-annihiliation. Instead of offering a nice view, the 3 Ster - this certain amount of wood - no longer constitutes the cabin, but is now turned into its most basic usage: as food for the stove."
-Massimiliano Gioni, Max Hollein, Johan F Hartle, Simone Subal. 2006. Michael Sailstorfer: Fur Immer War Gestern. Verlag Fur Moderne Kunst., p. 53

Shooting Star (DmRecursiveFutility)

the damp ground of provincial Bavaria

Shooting star is a piece in which Sailstorfer tries to impress his girlfriend by telling her that he will craft a shooting star for her. "Whether it is true or not... the artist's avowal that it was a work for his new girlfriend, for whom he wanted to shoot a bright star into the sky... The Sailstorfer apparatus, made from a Mercedes W123 with catapult function and built-in street light, becomes a weapon-like apparatus for shooting stars. It is the simple execution of a simple idea with simple means. Sailstorfer's shooting star, the surrogate for the enthusiastically received real thing, comes nowhere near the miracle of the natural phenomenon desired - the streetlight shooting star flies a maxmimum of 15 meters and does not burn out in the ether, but explodes on the damp ground of provincial Bavaria"
-Massimiliano Gioni, Max Hollein, Johan F Hartle, Simone Subal. 2006. Michael Sailstorfer: Fur Immer War Gestern. Verlag Fur Moderne Kunst., p. 53

3 Ster with view (Construction Vernacular, DmRecursiveFutility)

"The title 3 Ster mit Ausblick (3 Steres with a view, 2002)... juxtaposes technical vocabulary with a romantic sentiment one might find in Casper David Friedrich. Sailstorfer describes the etymological signifigance of the word Ster: 'Ster is a Bavarian slang and means 1m x 1m x 1mx of wood. 3 Ster are 3 x 1m x 1m x 1m of wood. The amount of wood they used to build the cabin.' Mit Ausblick translates as 'with a view.' But it is not any kind of view, but implies a paradoxical outlook into delightful, often remote scenery. We will see how paradoxical this title proves to be."
-Michael Sailstorfer, in Massimiliano Gioni, Max Hollein, Johan F Hartle, Simone Subal. 2006. Michael Sailstorfer: Fur Immer War Gestern. Verlag Fur Moderne Kunst., p. 53

ArtAsExperience

a practical dreamer in the animated world of objects

"A feeling for sentiment which is not construed or calculated but which is an integral part of the work and absolutely certain to have been experienced by the artist... We realize, with something akin to relief, that the artist does not get lost in a whirr of highly complex, self-referential, formally aesthetic configurations of objects, but rather proves to be a practical dreamer in the animated world of objects"
-Massimiliano Gioni, Max Hollein, Johan F Hartle, Simone Subal. 2006. Michael Sailstorfer: Fur Immer War Gestern. Verlag Fur Moderne Kunst., p. 22

DmGaps

"I like the idea of creating something new
by taking something away"

-Michael Sailstorfer, in Massimiliano Gioni, Max Hollein, Johan F Hartle, Simone Subal. 2006. Michael Sailstorfer: Fur Immer War Gestern. Verlag Fur Moderne Kunst., p. 49

Somewhere btwn performace and sculpture

"Sailstorfer's sculptural interventions are transformative actions. They lie somewhere between performance and sculpture. But in Sailstorfer's case, performance cannot be understood in the traditional sense, as the works often lack both the performer and the audience. "
-Massimiliano Gioni, Max Hollein, Johan F Hartle, Simone Subal. 2006. Michael Sailstorfer: Fur Immer War Gestern. Verlag Fur Moderne Kunst., p. 22

Uselessness

"Sailstorfer's inventions often maneuver between usefulness and futility, but always translate the sensual pleasure of their making... 'Familiar utility is turned with humour to uselessness, ' the critic Mark Gisbourne (2004) observes , ' or put another way, into an easthetic usefulness; meaning and function are thus transposed to a second use value'"
-''Massimiliano Gioni, Max Hollein, Johan F Hartle, Simone Subal. 2006. Michael Sailstorfer: Fur Immer War Gestern. Verlag Fur Moderne Kunst., p. 59"

Subvert

"With dreamlike escapism, he transports viewers to different worlds, challenging the realms of the impossible. His work is driven by his strong belief in the power of imagination and its ability to not only break rules, but also to confront hierarchies of expectations and assumptions." Simone Subal, p. 72, contemporary, 2121, no 87, 2006

"Sculptural Adventures" ditto

?SelfDestroying loops

in Heimatlied (Homeland Song, 2001-2) Sailstorfer dismantles four mobile homes only to reassemble them as a single house placed in a remote location in the German countryside... Destruction is the key to creation." Ibid