2019–2024

Models for Future Cities

Galerie Heike Strelow, Frankfurt 2019 · Austrian Cultural Forum London 2022 · Bildraum Bregenz 2024

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Mathias Kessler, Model for Future City’s and Light Phenomena, installation view, Austrian Cultural Forum London, 2022

In his New York studio Kessler prints honeycomb structures in 3D and uses them as skeletons on which crystals grow. The result is a growing architecture: the printed lattice sets the plan, and the crystal hull that forms over it decides the final shape. No two models are alike, and each is unique. Kessler sees in them a possible future for sculpture — one that is cultivated rather than built.

A companion video, Models for Future Cities (2019, 4 min 33 sec), places the 3D-rendered structures in a virtual landscape, an open field under a summer sky, where they sit like the monuments of a city that does not yet exist.

The series was first shown in Forever and Sunsmell at Galerie Heike Strelow, Frankfurt, in 2019, and again in Some People Feel the Rain. Others Just Get Wet. at the Austrian Cultural Forum London in 2022, alongside the Light Phenomena gradient paintings.

Works

Mathias Kessler, Model for Future City’s, 2019. 3D-printed honeycomb structure with crystal growth (growing architecture), ca. 12 × 7 cm (varying dimensions). Unique.
Model for Future City’s, 2019. 3D-printed honeycomb structure with crystal growth (growing architecture), ca. 12 × 7 cm (varying dimensions). Unique.
Mathias Kessler, Model for Future City’s, 2019. 3D-printed honeycomb structure with crystal growth (growing architecture), ca. 12 × 7 cm (varying dimensions). Unique.
Model for Future City’s, 2019. 3D-printed honeycomb structure with crystal growth (growing architecture), ca. 12 × 7 cm (varying dimensions). Unique.
Mathias Kessler, Model for Future City’s, 2019. 3D-printed honeycomb structure with crystal growth (growing architecture), ca. 12 × 7 cm (varying dimensions). Unique.
Model for Future City’s, 2019. 3D-printed honeycomb structure with crystal growth (growing architecture), ca. 12 × 7 cm (varying dimensions). Unique.
Mathias Kessler, Model for Future City’s, 2019. 3D-printed honeycomb structure with crystal growth (growing architecture), ca. 14 × 12 cm (varying dimensions). Unique.
Model for Future City’s, 2019. 3D-printed honeycomb structure with crystal growth (growing architecture), ca. 14 × 12 cm (varying dimensions). Unique.
Mathias Kessler, Model for Future City’s, 2019. 3D-printed honeycomb structure with crystal growth (growing architecture), ca. 14 × 12 cm (varying dimensions). Unique.
Model for Future City’s, 2019. 3D-printed honeycomb structure with crystal growth (growing architecture), ca. 14 × 12 cm (varying dimensions). Unique.
Mathias Kessler, Model for Future City’s, 2019. 3D-printed honeycomb structure with crystal growth (growing architecture), ca. 14 × 12 cm (varying dimensions). Unique.
Model for Future City’s, 2019. 3D-printed honeycomb structure with crystal growth (growing architecture), ca. 14 × 12 cm (varying dimensions). Unique.
Mathias Kessler, Model for Future City’s, 2019. 3D-printed honeycomb structure with crystal growth (growing architecture), ca. 14 × 12 cm (varying dimensions). Unique.
Model for Future City’s, 2019. 3D-printed honeycomb structure with crystal growth (growing architecture), ca. 14 × 12 cm (varying dimensions). Unique.

Video

Mathias Kessler, Models for Future Cities, 2019. Video still, 3D rendering based on the 3D sculptures, 4 min 33 sec.
Models for Future Cities, 2019. Video still, 3D rendering based on the 3D sculptures, 4 min 33 sec.

Installation views

Mathias Kessler, Model for Future City’s and Light Phenomena, installation view, Austrian Cultural Forum London, 2022
Installation view, Some People Feel the Rain. Others Just Get Wet., Austrian Cultural Forum London, 2022
Mathias Kessler, Model for Future City’s and Light Phenomena, installation view, Austrian Cultural Forum London, 2022
Mathias Kessler, Model for Future City’s and Light Phenomena, installation view, Austrian Cultural Forum London, 2022.
Mathias Kessler, Forever and Sunsmell, installation view, Galerie Heike Strelow, Frankfurt, 2019
Mathias Kessler, Forever and Sunsmell, installation view, Galerie Heike Strelow, Frankfurt, 2019.
Mathias Kessler, Forever and Sunsmell, installation view, Galerie Heike Strelow, Frankfurt, 2019
Mathias Kessler, Forever and Sunsmell, installation view, Galerie Heike Strelow, Frankfurt, 2019.
Mathias Kessler, Models for Future Cities, installation view, Bildraum Bodensee, Bregenz, 2024. Photo: Petra Rainer.
Mathias Kessler, Models for Future Cities, installation view, Bildraum Bodensee, Bregenz, 2024. Photo: Petra Rainer.
Mathias Kessler, Models for Future Cities, detail, Bildraum Bodensee, Bregenz, 2024. Photo: Petra Rainer.
Mathias Kessler, Models for Future Cities, detail, Bildraum Bodensee, Bregenz, 2024. Photo: Petra Rainer.

Installation views: Some People Feel the Rain. Others Just Get Wet., Austrian Cultural Forum London, 2022; Forever and Sunsmell, Galerie Heike Strelow, Frankfurt, 2019.

In the studio

Mathias Kessler, Mathias Kessler with the 3D printer in the New York studio.
Mathias Kessler with the 3D printer in the New York studio.

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