uvdl

Installation / Performance · 2025

uvdl, an installative work in two acts.

Part 1: System / Motion / Suspension. Eight industrial fans, one plastic bag, three metres of installation diameter. With the body withdrawn, only the air remains. The fans stand in a circular formation and generate an invisible but tangible field of force; at the centre a plastic bag, branded with the Kai Schmidt logo and the title of the work, floats up and down and back and forth, caught in perpetual turbulence.

Part 2: Body | Air / Submission. One industrial fan, one pink plastic bag. Here the body is no longer in control, it surrenders to the forces at play. Kai Schmidt steps forward holding the bag stretched in front of him. As he releases it the air drives it against his face and seals it around his head. The plastic clings tightly and takes the shape of his skin. It takes the air, but not entirely: breath is still possible, though not on command. The constant airflow dictates when air can enter, the unpredictable plastic decides how it moves and restricts. For a moment control is fully relinquished. Then he steps back out of the installation, out of the system.

Together both parts trace the line between control and submission, autonomy and dependency, structure and chance. Air, normally unnoticed, becomes the dominant force: shaping, dictating and suspending body and material alike.

Two acts on the same principle. In the first the machine performs alone and the body is absent; in the second a single fan is turned on one person. Nothing is choreographed beyond switching the fans on.

Year

2025

Client

—

Role

Artist

Scope

Concept, installation, performance

Concept, installation, performance: Kai Schmidt. Eight industrial fans, plastic bags. Ø 3 m.