Limited Scenarios
In his world of objects Jochen Mura exhibits plateaus, 'Guckkästen' (display boxes), models and stages which, literally as well as metaphorically, present shifts and displacements. In "Zugang" (access) for instance, he tilts linoleum tiles into a vertical position, arranging segments of what was formerly a floor into a 'Bildfries' (picture frieze). These linoleum slates which Mura has taken from the floor of an old Belgian hospital show different patterns and different degrees of wear. Processes in time, 'Pfade' (paths) which determined the real life in the hospital thus rule the colour and the composition of a 'Bild' (picture). The segments Jochen Mura embeds in individual boxes, surrounding them with a new space, juxtaposing them with semi - transparent wax surfaces. Art thereby demonstrates life as a momentum of its own which totally redefines elements of a formerly public space and brings forth new 'relocated' coordinate systems.
A similar, analytically dissected search for traces as in "Zugang" shows an ensemble with the symbolic 'Rekonstruktion' (reconstruction) of a house level which had to yield to brown coal mining. With the material of a pigeon loft which was in the building, a house within a house, so to speak, Jochen Mura has built the model of the by now destroyed building. The individual rooms are represented by boxes with the authentic wallpaper glued on. The room as a hollow space becomes a closed volume. As in "Zugang" Mura offers a reconstruction which takes up signs and "Signaturen" (signatures) - of the past for example - simultaneously creating new spatial and thematic connections. In exactly this way Mura's photographs sharing elementary structures and motifs are contrasted with each other. Geometrical basic elements such as rectangles and triangles or running patterns serve as a dominant theme which links two areas completely independent of their architectural function.
Mura's artistic 'Modelle' (models) define semantic shifts, releasing spaces from their function. "Versorgungsschächte" (supply shafts) lead to a 'Leere' (void) without any feeding or supplying function. Designed as display boxes they invite us to look through glass facades into their functionless inside. 'Versorgt' (supplied) in one reading of the work is solely the eye of the beholder which is offered 'Durchblick' (insight). In this way the technical function becomes a symbol of the art which reveals new existential needs and solutions. Symbolically "Mehrzweckgrund" (multi purpose ground) sums up this principle. Segments of PVC floors form a green surface reminiscent of a playing field or a table tennis table. Lines on a sheet of glass put in front of it superimpose the markings on this field. If we see this work as programmatic, then its art provides us with a freely available multi purpose ground by combining and blending totally different plains. This procedure as shown in "Zugang" is also concerned with temporal processes. In "Durchzug" (draught, through train) Mura transforms the speed of a railway wagon into a simple spatial situation which displaces the coordinates of the movement by ninety degrees. Two wax plateaus of different height varying in their depth inside the cupboard that serves as a 'plinth' indicate where the train would go if it followed its course. The spatial grading symbolically balances the fixation on a frozen moment. The sculptural object appears as a medium which symbolically overcomes its intrinsically static role with its ability to reflect the dynamics and the technical energy.
In "Kopfstand" (headstand) plains of different height appear as plateaus passable on foot, covered with sheets of linoleum turned upside down. The role of the dynamic elements is here delegated to the observer who can change, in a literal sense, the perspectives of his vision. Part of the installation is an object made of two 'bedside tables' of which some segments have been cut out. The empty spaces of the tables are filled with wax. This piece of furniture, much like the "supply shaft", has lost its function. Whichever perspective the observer adopts on the different plains, art always asserts its autarky and its power to totally re - interpret existing spatial systems. Mura's art creates 'shifting points of view', frees spaces of their fixed meanings, while enhancing its own artificiality and its exemplary nature. It professes to be a limited scenario without relativizing its claim for a new interpretation of the world.
Translation from German by Kaspar Spinner