Current Value
Using symbolic (written) language like the one between graffiti writers as an effective way to successfully transmit data, Klosterneuburg Abbey will be explored and investigated as a site for research, collection, and the generation of visual images within an urban environment dedicated to outstanding events of the past. The subjects of research are objects found in the urban visual space – heraldry and its elements. In the hopes of continuing to develop our own visual language of symbols, images, and signs, these elements will be further interpreted, transmitting their information through the language of artistic images. The process of data transmission can thus be sped up through associative thinking, bypassing rational barriers and collapsing time for their recognition. This will also open up the opportunity for a more efficient perception of information for a larger unprepared audience.
APL315 (b. 1986 in Odessa, Ukraine) started off as a graffiti writer in the early 2000s and has had numerous solo exhibitions in the Ukraine and abroad to date. His education is key to understanding the artist’s individual strategy: as a professional entomologist educated at Odessa State University’s invertebrate department, he researched organic aesthetics and created images, which, from afar, looked like the silhouettes of insects.
While continuously working on the streets, APL315 began to move into new territory and migrated into post-graffiti practices. In the second half of the 2010s, he began using alternative media when creating new works. In interdisciplinary art projects, the artist combines his background as an entomologist with a newly acquired passion for amateur archaeological research and metal detection. In this case, the metal detector becomes a tool of artistic expression, as most of his newer artworks are assembled from objects found on the streets, beaches and in parks. Old nails, coins and rusted cans tell the stories of bygone days, nodding to the classical baroque vanitas genre which focused on the transience of life.
His most recent projects are dedicated to the war-torn areas in Ukraine and the Balkans. In large-scale multimedia installations, he asks questions about the fragility of modern-day ecosystems and uncovers deep historical traumas of Eastern and South-Central Europe.
Der ukrainische Künstler APL315 hat während seiner Residency von März bis Juni 2024 sein Projekt »Current Value« im Stift Klosterneuburg weiterentwickelt. Die Arbeiten widmen sich der visuellen Sprache der Heraldik, Illustrationen in mittelalterlichen Büchern, Münzen und personalisierten Siegeln, die die Geschichten der Vergangenheit erzählen.