Action
Roman Signer
Swiss, born 1938
1982
A two-minute silent Super 8 film transferred to video in which Roman Signer sets off a small explosion on a lawn to treat a simple physical event as an artwork.
The grainy, home‑movie image is filled with a sudden white cloud of smoke rolling across a green field against a backdrop of trees, making an everyday landscape feel momentarily violent and uncanny.
By staging modest, often hazardous actions and filming their material effects, Signer stretched sculpture into time and event, helping to shape performance and time‑based practices in contemporary art.
Medium
Super 8mm film transferred to video (color, silent)
Dimensions
2 min.
Classification
Department
Credit
Committee on Media Funds
Accession
1290.2007
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
