Using simple and functional components, Zimoun builds architecturally-minded platforms of sound. Exploring mechanical rhythm and flow in prepared systems, his installations incorporate commonplace industrial objects. In an obsessive display of simple and functional materials, these works articulate a tension between the orderly patterns of Modernism and the chaotic forces of life. Carrying an emotional depth, the acoustic hum of natural phenomena in Zimoun's minimalist constructions effortlessly reverberates.
Zimoun, born in Switzerland in 1977, is a self-taught artist based in Bern. His work has been presented in solo and group shows as well as performances in Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and South America. Zimoun has been awarded different art prizes and residencies
and has served as a guest lecturer.
Recent displays of his work include exhibitions at the Nam June Paik Art Center in Korea; the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei; Art Basel; Galerie Denise René Paris; the Ringling Museum of Art, Florida; bitforms gallery New York; Kunsthalle Bern; Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein; the Contemporary Art Museum MNAC Bucharest, among others.
In 2003, Zimoun and graphic designer Marc Beekhuis founded Leerraum [ ] - which has become a platform for creative exchange among artists, designers, architects,... who explore forms and structures based on reductive principles and careful yet radical use of materials.
200 prepared dc-motors, 2000 cardboard elements 70x70cm
Zimoun in collabortation with Architect Hannes Zweifel 2011
Dimensions: 15x9x4.5m / 49.2 x 29.5 x 14.7 ft.
Exhibition: Contemporary Art Museum MNAC Bucharest, Romania.
Curated by Rokolectiv Bucharest.
Assisted by Olle Kilström, Anca Stirbacu, Kjell Håften, Sergiu Doroftei, Mihaela Vasile, Filip Airinei, Cosmin Tapu, Dan Tian, Octavian Hrebenciuc, Petre Lungu, Vanessa Gageos and Florian Bürki.
Kindly supported by Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council.
http://www.hanneszweifel.ch
http://www.zimoun.ch
Zimoun : Sound Sculptures & Installations : Compilation Video (selected works):
http://www.vimeo.com/7235817 or http://www.zimoun.ch
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«The sound sculptures and installations of Zimoun are graceful, mechanized works of playful poetry, their structural simplicity opens like an industrial bloom to reveal a complex and intricate series of relationships, an ongoing interplay between the «artificial» and the «organic». It‘s an artistic research of simple and elegant systems to generate and study complex behaviors in sound and motion. Zimoun creates sound pieces from basic components, often using multiples of the same prepared mechanical elements to examine the creation and degeneration of patterns.» Tim Beck
«It is a poetic and humorous absurdity we find in Zimoun’s work, which opens up a wide, refreshing and enriching space for discoveries, associations and a multitude of approaches.» Nina Terry
«The clean, elegant sound sculptures combine visual, sonic, and spatial elements in an organically balanced entirely artwork. Using simple and well- conceived mechanical systems, Zimouns‘s work transforms and activates the space.»
Jury Prix Ars Electronica 2010
«Zimoun creates complex kinetic sound sculptures by arranging industrially produced parts according to seemingly simple rules. Using motors, wires, ventilators, etc.., he creates closed systems that develop their own behavior and rules similarly to artificial creatures. Once running, they are left to themselves and go through an indeterminable process of (de)generation.
These quasi autonomous creatures exist in an absolutely synthetic sphere of lifeless matter. However, within the precise, determinist systems creative categorioes suddenly reappear, such as deviation, refusal and transcience out of which complex patterns of behavior evolve.» Node10
Installation view: Lydgalleriet, Bergen, Norway.
Curated by Jørgen Larsson, Lydgalleriet.
Assisted by Jacob Alrø, Tolga Balci, Vanessa Gageos and Florian Bürki.
Website & more informaiton:
http://www.zimoun.ch
Compilation Video:
http://vimeo.com/7235817
___________________________________
«The sound sculptures and installations of Zimoun are graceful, mechanized works of playful poetry, their structural simplicity opens like an industrial bloom to reveal a complex and intricate series of relationships, an ongoing interplay between the «artificial» and the «organic». It‘s an artistic research of simple and elegant systems to generate and study complex behaviors in sound and motion. Zimoun creates sound pieces from basic components, often using multiples of the same prepared mechanical elements to examine the creation and degeneration of patterns.» Tim Beck
«It is a poetic and humorous absurdity we find in Zimoun’s work, which opens up a wide, refreshing and enriching space for discoveries, associations and a multitude of approaches.» Nina Terry
«Zimoun creates more than moving structures; he develops a space where the oeuvre, once it’s set in motion, can create itself.» Oscar Gomez Poviña
«Zimoun is best compared to a watchmaker of a self-reproducing time constructing his own gauging station.» Radjo Monk
«The clean, elegant sound sculptures combine visual, sonic, and spatial elements in an organically balanced entirely artwork. Using simple and well- conceived mechanical systems, Zimouns‘s work transforms and activates the space.» Jury Prix Ars Electronica 2010
«Zimoun creates complex kinetic sound sculptures by arranging industrially produced parts according to seemingly simple rules. Using motors, wires, ventilators, etc.., he creates closed systems that develop their own behavior and rules similarly to artificial creatures. Once running, they are left to themselves and go through an indeterminable process of (de)generation.
These quasi autonomous creatures exist in an absolutely synthetic sphere of lifeless matter. However, within the precise, determinist systems creative categorioes suddenly reappear, such as deviation, refusal and transcience out of which complex patterns of behavior evolve.» Node10
«I perceive Zimoun’s work as a unique, playful, light-hearted, and utterly complex approach and examination of the present.» Tom Gray
«The components used in Zimoun’s work are simple, functional and raw, whereas only aesthetically high-level and purposefully chosen elements and materials are used in minimalist fashion. Through radical reduction, Zimoun creates works of art which allow for a plethora of associations without being pinned down to a specific direction. Radical abstraction functions rather like a code in the background of things, thus elegantly avoiding an insinuation of direct, concrete attribution. Thanks to the abundance of mechanical activity, the range of perception, possibilities and interpretations is wide open.» Amanda Neumann
«Observing Zimoun’s work opens connections to nature and natural phenomena, physics, quantum mechanics, complexity, simplicity, vitality, individuality, evolvement and growth, but also to industrialization, robotics, mass production and social phenomena, to space, architecture, cosmic white noise, phantasms and highly enjoyable experiences popping up at any moment. Art is supposed to activate and focus our attention. Zimoun’s work seems to be a sweeping and beautiful example for this.» Anton Richter
«The works convince through their elegant and clever simplicity in an inconspicuously complex setting.» Stephen Braun
«Zimoun’s primary instruments are entirely of his own making, each a large-scale installation of small mechanical devices — tables lined with whipping little bits of tubing, small sets of fetishistically situated mini- motors. They are architecturally precise and their beauty is forged by that precision. The meticulous engineering of Zimoun’s work is a set- up — not an end unto itself, but a staged step toward its end result, an orderly step enacted so as to let chaos flourish. His chaos takes place in close settings, in carefully defined spaces, in systems as thoroughly considered as a laboratory experiment. And the sound emited by them is not an after effect, or an afterthought. It’s a core principal of his practice.» Marc Weidenbaum
Exhibition view: Mois Multi, Québec City, Canada. Curated by Émile Morin. Project coordination by Ariane Plante. Production coordination by Mathieu Thébaudeau. Assisted by Alexandre Bertier, Karl-Otto von Oertzen, Otso Lahedoja and Florian Bürki.
Kindly supported by Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council.
«The sound sculptures and installations of Zimoun are graceful, mechanized works of playful poetry, their structural simplicity opens like an industrial bloom to reveal a complex and intricate series of relationships, an ongoing interplay between the «artificial» and the «organic». Using simple, physical systems to examine the creation and degeneration of patterns, Zimouns‘s work transforms and activates the space.» dsm
Compilation Video (selected works):
http://www.vimeo.com/7235817
Website:
http://www.zimoun.ch
Exhibition view: Arts Center Vooruit Gent, Almost Cinema, Belgium. Curated by Eva De Groote. Project coordination by Joke Vangheluwe. Assistants: Frederik Haentjes, Charlotte Bouckaert, Naomi Kerkhove, Veerle Troch, Vanessa Gageos and Florian Bürki. Kindly supported by Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council, KulturStadtBern, Swisslos / Amt für Kultur Kanton Bern and SCA Packaging Switzerland.
it's a inner organization of RMEDL, constituted for the experimentation of conceptual/projectual methodologies for the production, communication and development of contemporary art events connected to the art of listening/sound art, through the construction of meta-curatorial artistic practices focused on extreme, transgressive, unorthodox, experimental and avantgardistic music researches, linked to many fields of human expressions and media art involved in new kinds of languages and settings of the communication. RMEDL | METASOUND is a freelancer based startup organisation conceived as a meta-curatorial platform that deals in design of independent ways of practice of curating, based on the development of conceptual sound art researches, environmental music, audio-visual installations and extra-acoustic experiences, close to visual and performing arts, joined to unconventional and "extended" techniques of production for multidisciplinary projects, conceived as special programmatic events and collectable art editions, to promote cultural acknowledgements for artistic practices. | General Menaging, Curating Manufacture and Executive Director: Radical Matters - Editions / Label | Sandro Gronchi
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