RALF WENDT – ART AS FODDER
Ralf Wendt was born 1963 in Brandenburg (on the river Havel). He lives and works
in Halle (Saale).
Wendt's work has revolved for some years around the topics man-animal relationships
and man in isolation (Hauser performance series). To expose one's own person to unusual
situations (for example as a person coloured blue led on reins by an elegant woman
in the London Borough of Southwark – with its largely black population) or the vocal
contact by imitations of animal and human sounds means for Wendt the deconstruction
of existing constellations to produce a new freedom of moment for himself and others
involved.
A work based on animal voices is not for Wendt a one-way service. The possibility
of achieving rapprochement in this artistic way enriches the human brain (Ralf Wendt's
brain too). The real contact at the moment of "feeding" has an experimental character
and the results are unpredictable for both sides – ideally also for the onlookers,
the human public. Having to question one's previous methods of perception is the
aim for all three groups.
His acoustic compositions for the exhibition project Art for Animals will be accompanied
by a ritualistic performance for animals in 11 compounds of Halle Zoo. The daily
"feeding time" lasts two hours and caters for African elephants, Chile flamingos,
Humboldt penguins, various types of herons and egrets on the zoo mountain, brush-tailed
rats (common degus), griffon vultures, Northern bald ibises, snowy owls, long-eared
owls and tawny owls. The work aimed mainly at birds results from Wendt's interest
in ornithology, the source of which the artist cannot explain. This work can only
be described as a result of its effect: in the proximity of freely flying birds Wendt's
thoughts get out of control – with unpredictable results for him and other people.
In addition to the daily "feeding time" Wendt offers the zoo visitors – as an acoustic
souvenir – a concert comprising a composition of the voices and sounds of all vocal
animals of the zoo that will be heard as a continuous performance in the zoo's entrance
area.
www.radiocorax.de
