Roman Signer

° 1938

Lives in St. Gallen (), born in Appenzell ().

Swiss-born artist Roman Signer (°1938) is a veteran of the European conceptual/performance art movement of the seventies, and continues to assume a wholly unique position within the broader context of today’s globalized art world – if only for the consistency with which he has singled out the primordial natural elements of earth, fire, water and air (and the magical powers of transformation they denote) as the ongoing thematic obsessions, since the early seventies, of his idiosyncratic artistic practice. His oeuvre consists of a great number of so-called “sculptural events”: experimental actions and performances in which pseudo-scientific inquiry, boyish curiosity and absurdist, deadpan humour mingle to brew a unique, parodic cocktail not unlike that served up by Signer’s compatriots Peter Fischli & David Weiss, whose work shows the discernible traces, however oblique, of their peer’s influence.

About M HKA / Mission Statement

The M HKA is a museum for contemporary art, film and visual culture in its widest sense. It is an open place of encounter for art, artists and the public. The M HKA aspires to play a leading role in Flanders and to extend its international profile by building upon Antwerp's avant-garde tradition. The M HKA bridges the relationship between artistic questions and wider societal issues, between the international and the regional, artists and public, tradition and innovation, reflection and presentation. Central here is the museum's collection with its ongoing acquisitions, as well as related areas of management and research.

About M HKA Ensembles

The M HKA Ensembles represent our first steps towards initiating the public to today's art-related digital landscape. With the help of these new media, our aim is to offer our artworks a better and fuller array of support for their presentation and public understanding.