EVOLVING MASTERS #21 | NICOLAS PELZER

Nicolas Pelzer (Dinslaken, 1982) is a multimedia artist whose work challenges the conventional definition of form, innovatively exploring the intersection between materiality and immateriality. His practice, experimental in nature, examines the role of technology and its impact on the physical world, questioning the transformations it brings about on both perceptual and corporeal levels.

One of the most significant examples of this approach is the artwork Evolving Masters #21 (2024), part of a broader series titled Evolving Masters. In this series, Pelzer uses laser-cut shapes that are then hand-folded, thus emphasizing the interaction between an automated technique and human intervention.
This body of work centers on the theme of technological evolution and how technology tends to project the human body outside of itself, redefining its boundaries.

Evolving Masters #21 is presented as an installation composed of anodized aluminum sheets, shaped like hands. These hands, connected to each other in a continuous and unique flow, seem to affirm communication and human interaction in a context increasingly dominated by technology.
Among the hands, two sheets take the form of T-shaped hinges, an element that introduces a mechanical component into this ‘human’ composition.
This interaction between human and mechanical is further highlighted by the final detail of the sculpture: an LED bulb emerging from the palm of the highest hand, perhaps symbolizing technological innovation and light, understood as progress.

The artwork raises a series of fundamental questions: what defines the shape of an object or a concept? How is technology redrawing the boundaries between the physical and perceptual, between the human and the artificial? Pelzer invites the audience to consider these themes, encouraging a deep reflection on how technological evolution is transforming not only our body but also the way we understand the world around us.

Nicolas Pelzer
Evolving Masters #21, 2024, detail
Anodized aluminum, cable, lamp socket, LED bulb, screws, steel wire, 92 x 60 x 45 cm
Photo by Studio Nicolas Pelzer, Courtesy Tempesta Art Gallery, Milan

Nicolas Pelzer, Evolving Masters #21, 2024.
Anodized aluminum, cable, lamp socket, LED bulb, screws, steel wire, 92 x 60 x 45 cm.
Courtesy Tempesta Art Gallery, Milan.

02/10/24