A worldwide invasion of blob sculptures is the fictitious setting for my research project. On the basis of this exaggerated horror scenario I am analyzing critically the spaces marked for art and the expansion of a globalized art industry. Starting point of the research is the horror movie "The Blob" from 1958, in which a gelatinous, anthropophagous mass from outer space is expanding and growing permanently. The movie plot is ironically translated to the expansion of the art industry: The blob is escaping from the museum into public spaces and remote areas. Similar to a virus, which is transported through art tourists from Biennal to Biennal, the mass is spreading all over the globe. The "Blob" is signifying a prototypical sculpture or an abstract accumulation of material. While conquering spaces it can take on different forms, sizes, styles and shapes through its fictitious life. The global expansion of this sculpture gets beyond control, turning into a bizarre situation. This is the basis for my critical reflection of the existing criteria for artistic production, which consist partly out of theoretical research and several sculptural works.
The series contains educational material about the global art industry, for example a globe, on which the international biennals of the last two years are marked. "Oh, my god, it's a Blob!" shows a sample of the blob, which demonstrate the life of the bubbling and sputtering mass. In "Blob-Machine" a red foam mass comes out of a white museum pedestal and spreads into the room while solidifying to a sculpture. The video "Attack of the Blob" reproduces the panic scene in the 1958 movie and translates is to the front of a museum: visitors are trying to escape screaming and filled with fear out of the building.
Some works out of this series were shown at Kunstverein Wolfsburg in the exhibition "Merkwürdige Maschinen" (23.2.-20.4.2008) and at the fair for theory and art "Prototypisieren", thealit, Bremen (28.-30.3.2008). A first summing up of the topic was shown at kunstraum muenchen (13.-19.5.2008. During the exhibition, Dr. Dietmar Rübel (Philipps-Universität, Marburg) held a lecture on "Blobjects. Liquide Gebilde zwischen Kunst, Design und Architektur" and the horror movie "The Blob" from 1958 was screened together with an introduction to the history of b-movies by Thomas Reitmair.