KASSEL.- Flashing lights, mirrors, and loose power cords: With their vertical supports, horizontal arms, and luminaires, Peter Fischli’s kinetic sculptures are reminiscent of urban traffic lights or stage elements. Fashioned out of simple materials and coated in layers of gray paint they hint at urban surfaces and reveal an enigmatic rhythm of light and sound in the exhibition space. Their alternating signals follow no fixed logic. Instead the sculptures develop their own sequences in white, orange, or yellow tones.

Some objects feature reflective panels or stained glass, while others display dangling cables. At times, the structures resemble gallows or bare trees. They can be read as abstract compositions, diagram-like figures, or psychogram-like symbols. These sometimes unsettling constructions reference systems of order, perception, and transcendence, yet defy clear interpretation.

In his practice, Fischli explores the aesthetics of the everyday and the functionalities of systems of meaning. His sculptures examine how signs, symbols, and infrastructures of the globalized world vie for attention, circulate, organize our movements, and influence our perception and emotions.

The artist was born in Zurich in 1952 where he still lives to this day. He rose to prominence through his four-decade long collaboration with the late David Weiss (1946–2012) as part of the influential artist duo Fischli/Weiss. The duo took part in documenta in 1987 and 1997, was represented on numerous occasions at the Venice Biennale (1988, 1995, 2003, 2011, and 2013) and was awarded the Golden Lion (2003).

For a decade now, Fischli has shaped his own extraordinary, independent artistic practice, which has been showcased in numerous exhibitions, including at Kunsthaus Bregenz (2020), at By Art Matters in Hangzhou (2024), at LUMA Arles (2025), at Pinacoteca Agnelli in Turin (2026), and at the Robert Walser Center in Bern (2026). The Fridericianum is presenting the artist’s first institutional solo exhibition in Germany.

The exhibition is held under the patronage of Her Excellency Livia Leu, Ambassador of Switzerland to Germany.

Curatorial team: Justin Michael Delor, Jasmin Meinold, Moritz Wesseler