Yves Netzhammer

Yves Netzhammer, Dialogical Abrasion, 2010. Photograph by Thierry Bal

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Yves Netzhammer (b.1970, Switzerland) reflects on fundamental, even subconscious, aspects of the human condition.

In Dialogical Abrasion, 2010, Netzhammer pared human figures back to their most basic forms in a narrative whose non-linear storyline suggested a flashback following an accident. A three-dimensional animation focussed on characters who are struggling to remember situations that are lost or strangely misshapen by the collective consciousness.

Objects were out of place and mutated – in a moment of clarity, they adopted a symbolic meaning that quickly morphed into a new meaning, rarely fixed. Using highly simplified forms, his animations created a wordless, dream-like universe where the viewer was challenged to interpret and associate the situations presented. Underpinning this work was a desire to explore the philosophical and psychological relationship between humans and objects through a phenomenological approach.

In FACT’s Gallery 2, his animation was set in a site-specific sculptural installation. Objects drawn from the animation were realised in three dimensions, in a similarly concise yet incongruous aesthetic. Splitting the gallery into two layers – ‘above’ and ‘below’ – the audience’s movement was restricted by a labyrinth of ‘trenches’, where symbolic meaning was revealed from various perspectives. The result was an eerie effect whereby objects were not quite what they seem; an immersive space where the laws of existence were not obvious. A soundscape by collaborator and composer Bernd Schurer drew the viewer further into this universe.

Yves Netzhammer at Liverpool Biennial 2010

Dialogical Abrasion, 2010
3D animation, sculptural installation, sound
Commissioned by and exhibited at FACT