VERTICAL SKIP, 2009
- Light rope, motor with control unit, sensors

Thilo Frank’s artistic endeavours are infused with an interest in the physical interaction between the work of art and the spectator. The relationship between sight and movement is explored by means of technological tools. According to Frank, the non-verbal language of art has a distinct communicative potential; a statement made on the basis of the belief that knowledge and cognition often takes a physical, bodily experience as its point of departure.

The work Vertical skip is a light sculpture consisting of an eight-metre light cable suspended from the ceiling. Rotating around its own axis, the light cable creates a threedimensional shape in the dark room. Built-in sensors ensure that the speed changes as movements in the room are registered. When someone approaches the sculpture, its radius is widened, its speed is lowered, and its rhythm is changed. If more people are in the room at the same time, it takes a certain degree of navigation and co-ordination to agree on the right movement and speed. The sculpture then becomes a visualisation of this cooperation. With his poetic approach Frank directs our attention to our actions and their consequences – to how we affect our surroundings for better or worse.

Thilo Frank lives and works in Berlin. He was educated at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Stuttgart, and was a guest lecturer at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. 

Thilo Frank makes use of nature’s phenomenon such as light, air, space and movement in his work. He is interested in the physical relationship between the work and the spectator, and how this interaction affects both parties. Thilo Frank makes the audience active co-creators affecting the appearance or behavior of the installations. He has previously worked for Arken Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, and later in Olafur Eliasson’s studio in Berlin.