In his work, German artist and architect Hinrich Gross refers primarily to existing architecture, which he subliminally questions, as in his work WIDERSTANDSMOMENT (Section Modulus) for the EVI LICHTUNGEN 2020 International Light Art Biennale in Hildesheim. The term section modulus is derived from strength theory and describes the resistance that an object opposes to a load due to its geometric contour. In this video projection with electronic sound, Gross overlays partially manipulated but mostly unaltered images of the exterior of the bank building with the existing façade. Subtle shifts create a moiré effect between the projected and the physical dimension of the concrete granulation. The slow movements of the images tilt, turn, buckle, distort, shuffle and ultimately destroy the views, visually recomposing and eventually fragmenting them. The sober, exposed concrete building from the 1970s has a functional façade typical of its time. Due to its unusual octagonal shape and exposed location, it has become a landmark and thus an important building for the city’s residents. The WIDERSTANDSMOMENT project addressed this situation by referring to the appearance of the building but also to its interior. His site-specific animated film forms a unit with the projection surface, which for the viewer is perceivable as the layering of transparencies and the folding of changing plains. The film also explores issues of scale and materiality of building surfaces, and on a meta-level is also an investigation of human perceptual conditioning. The edited and projected images of the façades increasingly deviate from the original look and modulate the shape of the building. The effectiveness of pictorial projection demonstrates a slow transition from reality to virtual reality without the need to surprise the audience. Instead, the work invites to comment and discuss the process.

Weronika Morawiec, Robert Sochacki: Light As A Creative Tool, Gdańsk, 2021