for decades, regine schumann has been producing “farbraumkörper” (colorspace objects) and breathtaking room installations whose effect often dramatically shifts under either artificial light or black light.
her occupation with the fundamental questions of object and space has consistently informed her concern for material and its surface: plastilight cords that she crocheted, fluorescent textile fabrics with which she covers columns, or captures entire rooms, and again and again colored acrylic glass plates which she layers and joins together. these are all elements of schumann’s program from which she has repeatedly brought forth striking innovations since the late 1990s.
in addition to industrial materials, whose possibilities and processing have generated new uses and working methods in cooperation with manufacturers, schumann has always maintained an affinity for quick sketches on paper and for dealing directly with this "magic material.” besides reduced painting on paper—often with fluorescent pigments—a group of poetic works entitled “schwerelos” (weightless) was created in 2003/2004 which seem to open up the entire cosmos:
two sheets of tracing paper, covered with a number of punched holes and—sometimes more, sometimes fewer—dots of fluorescent pigment hang loosely one on top of the other in front of the wall. in daylight one sees an unframed, almost immaterial, delicate white surface with irregularly appearing, precisely punched holes. under black light, however, this surface offers a glance of another galaxy: the milky way sparkles out of the deep blue background, giving the viewer the impression of encountering a star-filled night sky. poetically vibrating with the slightest breeze, the equilibrium of the room seems to be suspended, sharpness and blurriness interact. one feels transported into unimagined distances. schumann's series “schwerelos” (weightless) provides room for a voyage of discovery and the fundamental experience of being human.
petra oelschlägel, 2022 (translation from the original german by robert b. roger, 2022)
