the conversion of materials into living things.
Walde was preoccupied with not only
worms but also other primitive forms of life
and evolutionary processes in general. This
was down to scientific discoveries of prehistoricforms of terrestrial life and the development of suitable materials in order to produce a sensory impression of vitality. Hallucigenia is the generic term chosen by a British researcherfor the simple yet bizarre creatures from the Middle Cambrian which must have mainly consisted of wormlike bodies and tentacle-like extremities, and whose scientific reconstructions are based on fossilised prints. Purely the use of the fantasy term Hallucigenia for a group of artworks indicates Walde’s fascination with such reconstructions of early life forms whose appearance, as evidenced by the collection of
different pictures on the internet, is modified in the scientific field depending on the level
of knowledge. In contrast to Walde’s design of various types of these organisms, however, a plurality of forms does not prevail; instead the latest findings are accepted as being the most valid. Then again, Walde’s Hallucigenia are not characterised by a reference to scientific history alone but also involve, to quote the artist, the “essence of the myths of
creation”. (8) He thus intertwines scientific and mythical knowledge, an approach which in
the realm of western culture is probably only acceptable in art.
Not just the forms but also the materials
of the Hallucigenia are associated with mythsof creation. The differently designed bodies consist of thin-walled, transparent borosilicate
glass with radiant coloured plasma shining through them, so that the bodies of these
iridescent primeval creatures radiating in the various colours of the noble gases can be seen as neither contours nor surfaces, but instead appear to be formed solely by the amplitudes of light impulses. In creation myths, light always features as the elixir required to bring matter to life. This becomes all the clearer in a dark setting since the curious tentacled
creatures only come into being through the pulsating light, which also makes them seem
to be floating weightlessly. Here, too, light reveals both genetic and energetic potential.
In a whole series of works, (9) Martin Walde
tackled the other material counterpart as it
were of the myths of creation and origin, the
»raw, telluric matter« (Barthes), by using a
highly unconventional material, namely gel. More than any other material, gels
represent intermediate states and hybrid
mixtures.They are characterised by their
ambivalence between solid and liquid and consequently
between an amorphous state and
the taking of shape. This ambiguity frequently
generates sensations in response to gels oscillating Martin Walde: Hallucigenia (generalinformation), 2008.
Cf : Martin Walde : Humming (exhibitioncatalogue), Silvia Eiblmayr (ed.), Galerie im Taxispalais, Sabine Schaschl, Kunsthaus Baselland, Cologne, 2007, especially pp 98 – 103.
