Time Sculptures in Green: Roman Signer's Video Works in Shanghai

The second floor of Shanghai Jiushi Art Museum is enveloped in lush greenery, where 205 video works created by Roman Signer between 1975 and 1989 are displayed in a distinctive manner.

Born in Switzerland in 1938, Roman Signer has long operated at the intersection of installation art, performance art, and video art. Departing from traditional static sculpture, Signer treats "time" as a fourth-dimensional creative medium, earning him the title of "time sculptor."

Signer favors readily available everyday objects – balloons, buckets, stools, umbrellas – designing experiments like a curious child, entrusting the final enactment of his works to natural forces such as gravity, wind, and water.

Ascending, falling, floating, dissipating – these fleeting performative moments, captured on Super 8 film, freeze ephemeral events into "sculptures."

Signer's works appear simple and unpretentious, yet the creative concepts behind them are meticulously conceived, blending melancholy with surprise and a refreshing sense of childlike innocence. Among the works brought to Shanghai this time is "Blue Balloon," created for the 2012 Shanghai Biennale.

One hundred miniature projectors are distributed throughout the second-floor space of the museum. Notably, by covering the windows with filters, the curatorial team has recreated the hazy, soft green shadows of the forest that characterized the artist's outdoor experiments.

"We want to let the outdoor sunlight and the indoor projected light shine together," said curator Li Zhenhua. "The green we chose comes from the artist's works and the palette of his era, as well as from a tone reminiscent of old films, giving visitors a sense of traversing through the forest of historical time."

Li believes that Signer's works and creative approach can inspire Chinese artists, particularly those focused on media art, action art and experimental art.

If you go

Dates: Through January 3, 10am to 6pm

Tickets: 30-38 yuan

Venue: Shanghai Jiushi Art Museum 上海久事美术馆

Address: 1 Zhongshan Rd E1 中山东一路1号