Product Description

Dramenbleche / Metal Dramas, imbossed aluminum sheet, variable dimensions, edition of 1+1
Each letter is assigned a numeric value according to its position in the alphabet: a = 1, b = 2, c = 3 … z = 26. Adding the letter values of a particular word produces a corresponding sum, e.g. day = 30, dissonance = 103. The Metal Dramas are based on this archaic principle and employ it to define affinities between different words that are fixed and arbitrary at the same time: every Metal Drama features three words selected on the basis of having the identical numeric value displayed above them. The ‘miniature dramas’ emerging from the individual viewer’s urge to imagine and interpret these verbal stimuli obscure the fact that what we see is ‘simply’ a combination of given linguistic elements according to a mathematic formula.

Image: ©Michael Endlicher / Bildrecht Vienna
Year: 2009/2021