Opening: Thu 25.05., 19.30h MQ Main Courtyard

Judith Fegerls converter: habaï ne sï natena, se paï tanïmena* is a hybrid figure consisting of steel, photovoltaic panels, light bodies, and electronic components that obtains nourishment from sunlight. While the three sculptures seem both alien and familiar at the same time, formal and content-related references to electronic elements and architectural forms, and to the world of plants and animals are found.
While the photovoltaic panels transform the energy of the sun into electrical energy that is fed into the power grid during the day, the sculpture casts shadows for visitors, who can spend time underneath it. At night, the sculpture reverses the production conditions and becomes a consumer of the solar energy previously fed into the grid. It emits an intensive violet-coloured plant light. The technical-organic overall appearance of the sculpture makes one think of a hybrid between a machine and an organism and seems archaic and futuristic at the same time.
Judith Fegerl has been examining energy as a medium and material in her artistic work for many years. With converter, she plumbs the cultural, aesthetic, and systemic significance of photovoltaic (systems) and addresses the interaction and supplementation of nature and culture as well as the effect, benefits, and efficiency of technology.

*let us give back to nature that which she gave to us,from the film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017), by Luc Besson and Virginie Besson-Silla.

Energy output/h 2.400 Watt
Energy consumption/h 198 Watt

Curator: Verena Kaspar-Eisert

The artist thanks Oliver Alunovic, Thomas Sandri, Luca Sabot and Peter Trenkler for support in the realization of the sculpture.

With the friendly support of the Sonnenkraft company.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations are global goals for sustainable development and contribute to the transformation of our society on an economic, social and ecological level. converter refers to SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy and SDG 13 - Climate Action.

Programme on the MQ Summer Stage:
Wed 30.05., 19h Judith Fegerl in conversation with Verena Kaspar-Eisert.
Free admission, no registration required.

Judith Fegerl
*1977 in Vienna, lives and works in Vienna. Judith Fegerl studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Her work has been presented nationally and internationally in numerous solo as well as group exhibitions, such as Museion Bolzano in 2013, Kunsthaus Glarus (Switzerland) in 2015, Kunstverein Leipzig in 2016, Kunsthalle BEGA in Timisoara, Ludwig Space in Munich and Kunstraum Dornbirn in 2023. She has also received prizes and grants, such as the Media Art Prize of the City of Vienna in 2019 and the Dagmar Chobot Sculpture Prize in 2022. Judith Fegerl is represented by Galerie Hubert Winter in Vienna.