Brigitte Kowanz: Morsealphabet

Brigitte Kowanz: Morsealphabet / Morse Code

Light manifested itself as the primary medium in the artist's oeuvre beginning in the 1980s. Morse code – invented in 1838 as a sound and radio signal and translated into light pulses for shipping – also makes a repeated appearance in Brigitte Kowanz’s work. In her installations of fluorescent tubes, she transforms the three-part code of dit, dah and pause into dots, dashes and spaces and arranges them in strictly linear or halo formations. Technically long outdated, Morse code revolutionised the exchange of information for real-time communication and laid the foundations for our modern technologies. In addition to its aesthetic quality, the sensorial words of light that the artist writes into spaces, she always examines and processes the medium’s scientific aspect.

Other works by Brigitte Kowanz in BUWOG’s art collection Leuchten / Lights, 1997, and R – ein Rechts-Knicken, L – ein Links-Knicken / R - A Bend to the Right, L - A Bend to the Left, 2001.