Rolf Lieberknecht

Rolf Lieberknecht (*1947 Mettmann, DE) has been building kinetic sculptures since 1970. Like cybernetic art's leading light Nicolas Schöffer (*1912 Kalocsa, HU; †1992 Paris, FR), Lieberknecht also seeks to provide an experience of the intangible through his art, turning the laws of physics into haptic constructs. In a quote from 1976, he states his aim as to "translate dimensionless geometric values into individual pieces of tangible information". In "Kinetic Light Refractions", a commission for the foyer outside the EPO's plenary chamber, Lieberknecht creates a cybernetic wall installation that uses the interplay of movement and light within a specific interval to "paint" a constructivist image on a screen. The piece comprises a couple of precisely aligned spotlights that shine light on two mirrored pyramids mounted on a cinema screen. The installation rewards those who linger, by gradually revealing to them the composition in its entirety, from genesis to completion. To see the "finished" installation, it must be viewed for a certain length of time. As in the works of Schöffer and László Moholy-Nagy (creator of 1930's "Light-Space Modulator"), Lieberknecht uses light to paint the geometric composition. But while Schöffer und Moholy-Nagy (*1895 Bácsborsód, HU; †1946 Chicago, USA) merely direct the trajectory of the light beams, Lieberknecht confines the light image to a cinema screen, replacing colour with light.