Fifth Wall

Kempinas uses magnetic tapes from video cassettes in almost all of his installations, which fill the exhibition spaces, take them over in their entirety. Originally a medium to store sequences of images, the tape is objectified in Kempinas’ three-dimensional works, becomes a line drawn in space.

Employing a minimalist apparatus, the ephemeral, yet monumental works are so weightless they are almost non-existent, as in the case of the Fifth Wall that is raised in M0. The parallel order of the thin black tapes, originally a recording media for pictures and sound, has a different appearance from every angle; air currents keep changing the installation, lending an impressionistic character to the constantly vibrating work. First presented in Japan in 2011, at the Yokohama Triennial, Fifth Wall has now been adapted by the artist for the space of M0. Fountain, a motor-driven kinetic work can also be seen in Műcsarnok. The bundle of black magnetic tapes is kept in constant motion by an electric fan, gaining the appearance of a living organism.

All of Kempinas’ works are marked by a spatial geometric abstraction and a precise and austere execution, which opens a broad field of interpretation, and makes the pieces accessible for all, without any formal education in art; at the same time, they do reinterpret a number of questions raised throughout the history of art. The two most obvious precedents to his art are two trends from the 1960s and 1970s, minimalism and op art. Employing black and white, and executed typically in two dimensions, op art relies on optical illusions. Kempinas extends the concept when he addresses not only visual perception, but the recipient’s sense of space as well, insisting on her active participation.