Roman Signer

b 1938 in Appenzell (CH); 1959-66 worked as an architectural draughtsman; 1966 Kunstgewerbeschule Zurich (CH); 1969-71 Kunstgewerbeschule Luzern (CH); from 1972 free-lance artist; from 1974 taught at the Schule für Gestaltung, Luzern (CH); work mainly in the field of action and performance often using explosives; lives and works in St. Gallen (CH).
Signer’s «action sculptures» involve setting up, carrying out, and recording «experiments» or events that bear aesthetic results. Following carefully planned and strictly executed and documented procedures, the artist enacts and records such acts as explosions, collisions, and the projection of objects through space. Video works like «Stiefel mit Rakete» (Boot with Rocket) are integral to Signer’s performances, capturing the original setup of materials that self-destruct in the process of creating an emotionally and visually compelling event. Signer gives a humorous twist to the concept of cause and effect and to the traditional scientific method of experimentation and discovery, taking on the self-evidence of scientific logic as an artistic challenge.