Overview
Diary
2005 - ongoing
Not only do we carry our work with us on our notebooks, we continuously write our private lives onto hard-disks – a potpourri of bits of…
Not only do we carry our work with us on our notebooks, we continuously write our private lives onto hard-disks – a potpourri of bits of memories, of useful, discovered and researched items are stored on our computer. It has become a digital diary, continuously and reliably recording a part of our being. We consciously or unconsciously create an on-going documentary about ourselves, with the amount of data growing ever more confusing and…
Konterfei Series
2023
They have now become as slick as an eel, the images generated by AI. Razor-sharp, hyper-realistic and almost no longer distinguishable from…
They have now become as slick as an eel, the images generated by AI. Razor-sharp, hyper-realistic and almost no longer distinguishable from photographic reality at all. But these photorealistic visual fantasies often lack any connection to us, any cultural anchoring, and offering little scope for interpretation. They primarily dictate, giving the observer little opportunity to engage ... The visual work called ‘KONTERFEI’ addresses the theme of…
Dissected Nature
2022
Nature itself and the image of it that we make for ourselves are subject to constant change. It is hardly pristine and wild any longer…
Nature itself and the image of it that we make for ourselves are subject to constant change. It is hardly pristine and wild any longer – more than ever, it is shaped by processes of civilisation. Schaerer’s works shown in the Kunstmuseum Olten focus on nature as a construct of human imagination and design, but also as an object of aesthetic and analytical observation. … In the solo show "Dissected Nature", several series of pictures were on…
Projection Series
2022
The pictorial work called ‘Projection’ is an experiment in visual representation, operating at the interface between the photograph and the…
The pictorial work called ‘Projection’ is an experiment in visual representation, operating at the interface between the photograph and the rendered 3D image. Nature as a construct of human imagination and design, but also as an object of aesthetic and analytical observation, constitutes the thematic foundation of this work. The series of images shows several abstract-looking depictions of plants and vegetation. The individual visual objects are…
Topologies – Natural Fragments, 2022
The work called ‘Topologies – Natural Fragments’ comprises computer-calculated views of freely arranged 3D plant objects. What at first…
The work called ‘Topologies – Natural Fragments’ comprises computer-calculated views of freely arranged 3D plant objects. What at first glance appears to be a negative of an intricate freehand drawing, a Japanese woodcut or a cyanotype, turns out on closer inspection to be an ensemble of strictly geometric polygonal meshes, articulated with varying densities. They extend across the entire image space, providing an abstract view of a plant…
Claire de Lune
2022
This work is based on the question of the extent to which atmospheric landscape images can be created with digital image processes that do…
This work is based on the question of the extent to which atmospheric landscape images can be created with digital image processes that do not attempt to imitate a photographic representation, but - analogous to painting - are able to develop their own visual language with their own specific means. The starting point for the work was a 3D model of a prayer plant whose leaves have the property of curling up at night and standing up like praying…
Offset Series
2022
The pictorial work called ‘Offsets’ is a series of computer drawings that negotiate between plane and relief in different and abstract…
The pictorial work called ‘Offsets’ is a series of computer drawings that negotiate between plane and relief in different and abstract ways, and are based on the naturally grown environment’s vocabulary of forms. The work was conceived for the solo show "Dissected Nature" in the Kunstmuseum Olten and was shown in the main hall between September and November 2022. The starting point for the images was a selection of photographic views of plants…
The Viewer - Strandbad Thun, 2021
The location of the open-air swimming facility Strandbad Thun is extraordinary. With its stretch of lakeside land, it is set against a…
The location of the open-air swimming facility Strandbad Thun is extraordinary. With its stretch of lakeside land, it is set against a unique mountain panorama and presents an unparalleled view out into the distance. The diagonal line of sight across Lake Thun to the peaks Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau reveals an atypical expanse, goes beyond the constraints of scale and extends over the surveyable Berner Oberland. The proposed work, called ‘The…
The Closet - Phantoms of Reality, 2020
The installation called "The Closet. Phantoms of Reality" constitutes a collaborative work by the artists Philipp Schaerer and Reto…
The installation called "The Closet. Phantoms of Reality" constitutes a collaborative work by the artists Philipp Schaerer and Reto Steiner. The work, conceived for Kunstraum Satellit in Thun, shows a series of sculptural and abstracted model forms of familiar fixtures and mobile everyday objects – some mounted on the walls, others scattered here and there across the space in a seemingly random manner. The installation presents itself as a…
Codex Series
2020
The pictorial work called ‘Codex Series’ shows a series of structures that appear organic and crystalline. The repetitive way of showing…
The pictorial work called ‘Codex Series’ shows a series of structures that appear organic and crystalline. The repetitive way of showing the depicted bodies draws on traditional object-based typological photography and consciously plays with documentary capture of reality. However, the depicted objects have nothing at all to do with reality. They were designed and generated from scratch on a computer. Based on an organic elementary form that has…
Ornament & Découpage
2019
The pictorial work called “Ornament and Découpage" was conceived as a contribution to the exhibition "What is Ornament" on the occasion of…
The pictorial work called “Ornament and Découpage" was conceived as a contribution to the exhibition "What is Ornament" on the occasion of the Trienal de Arquitectura de Lisboa 2019. In the exhibition, curated by Ambra Fabi and Giovanni Piovene, a total of 15 pictures from the series were exhibited at the Culturgest, Lisbon. The present pictorial work transfers the principle of découpage to architectural photography - to the photographic…
Chicago Series
2017
The pictorial work called "Chicago Series" was conceived as a contribution to the Chicago Architecture Biennale “Making New History” in…
The pictorial work called "Chicago Series" was conceived as a contribution to the Chicago Architecture Biennale “Making New History” in 2017. The work takes as its starting point fragments of anonymous and concealed architecture from the greater Chicago area and translates these into independent and “refined” pictorial architectural objects. Aerial photographs form the basis for the seemingly abstract and enclosed building views. The latter are…
Offshoots
2017
The ongoing digital capture and representation of our environment is creating an ever-increasing quantity of individual information blocks…
The ongoing digital capture and representation of our environment is creating an ever-increasing quantity of individual information blocks and image components, which have become freely accessible and processable. In the past, sketches, collages, paintings and sculptures were primarily created with the aid of analogue design materials, whereas today we deal with a much larger pool of material-independent resource elements that can be isolated…
Niesen
2016
The Niesen mountain, a natural pyramid and one of the landmarks in the region around Lake Thun, has served as a landscape motif for…
The Niesen mountain, a natural pyramid and one of the landmarks in the region around Lake Thun, has served as a landscape motif for multiple generations of painters. Unsurprisingly, the Niesen has almost without exception been painted from the north. Position and perspective were usually anchored on firm ground, from the northern slopes of the mountain and the shores of Lake Thun. … With digital media exerting a decisive influence on our…
Linard, Kesch, D'Esan
2016
With digital media exerting a decisive influence on our contemporary environment, our view of the world is undergoing constant changes. The…
With digital media exerting a decisive influence on our contemporary environment, our view of the world is undergoing constant changes. The digital indexing and coverage of places and landscapes is steadily rising – places far off the beaten track can easily be viewed online. It is possible to adopt endless virtual positions and perspectives - a feat which is nearly impossible to replicate in the body-oriented material world. Using search…
Cropped
2016
Built structures are static – immovably bound to a place – and can thus be communicated for the purpose of delocalized distribution and…
Built structures are static – immovably bound to a place – and can thus be communicated for the purpose of delocalized distribution and consumption only indirectly, by means of descriptive media such as images, texts and plans. The photographic image – without doubt the most powerful medium for visual contents – has become the dominant mode of transmission of architecture in our modern information society. In addition to traditional on site…
Eglistrasse
2015
Computer and information technologies are increasingly shaping our environment. It has become ever more difficult to draw a clear line…
Computer and information technologies are increasingly shaping our environment. It has become ever more difficult to draw a clear line between what is virtual and what is real. Digital information and editing technologies continuously condition us as to how we perceive, understand, structure and transform our environment and how we express ourselves within it. The aesthetics and forms of expressions that have arisen from this digital world keep…
Capriccio Series
2015
The technical possibilities afforded by computer-based imaging techniques increasingly blur the boundaries between image and…
The technical possibilities afforded by computer-based imaging techniques increasingly blur the boundaries between image and representation. Frontal views of freely invented architectures, i.e. the products of imagination and intuition based on fragments of "real" architecture, will serve as examples.The buildings represented cannot really be ascribed to a particular era, function or even typology. The thoroughly classical architectures, with…
Captions
2015
The ongoing digitalization of our environment creates an increasing amount of single blocks of information. In their electronic forms, and…
The ongoing digitalization of our environment creates an increasing amount of single blocks of information. In their electronic forms, and using computer based processing technologies, these blocks can be freely arranged and placed in new relations to one another. The pictorial work is based on photographs of frontal views from the image collection of the Canadian Center of Architecture CCA. Potentially interesting image fragments and components…
Le Géant de Troie
2014
We live nowadays in world that is very much shaped by the results and methods of the various sciences. Our gaze splits atoms. We penetrate…
We live nowadays in world that is very much shaped by the results and methods of the various sciences. Our gaze splits atoms. We penetrate surfaces and journey into the inner space of things. Optical systems and simulation processes no longer differentiate between body and space, inside and outside – boundaries have become permeable. Our view of things – what Fritz Mauthner calls "the convex view of the world", i.e. a view directed from outside…
Wireframe
2013
The work called "Wireframe" deals with the visual representation of a three-dimensional modeled space and its planar projection. The…
The work called "Wireframe" deals with the visual representation of a three-dimensional modeled space and its planar projection. The starting point was a three-dimensional virtual model of a multistoried tower block, created in a CAD environment for visualization purposes. All optically relevant building components were modeled in the three-dimensional coordinates system (x, y, z). In the wireframe view, the 3D model is rendered by the outlines…
Paysage Numériques
2013
The work subsumed under the heading "Paysages numériques" addresses the imaging and projection method of photography. By deconstructing the…
The work subsumed under the heading "Paysages numériques" addresses the imaging and projection method of photography. By deconstructing the photographic material, this work attempts to create a more fleeting, picturesque and atmospheric likeness of reality. It is an attempt to disassemble the photographic image into surfaces with the absence of any reference to depth and sculptural modeling to create a picture composition that may exhibit more…
Korn
2013
This work is devoted to the lack of connection that digital images have to any material, their lack of grounding in any substance, their…
This work is devoted to the lack of connection that digital images have to any material, their lack of grounding in any substance, their arbitrary scalability, and asks the fundamental question as to the quality of the extent to which they can be experienced. … Analogue images are bound to their carriers. The digital image, displayed on screen, is ephemeral and unbound, unattached, loose. Freed from material shackles, it can be scaled at will.
Leerstellen
2013/16
The series of pictures entitled "Leerstellen" [Blank Spaces] addresses the effect and the claim of authenticity of photo-like…
The series of pictures entitled "Leerstellen" [Blank Spaces] addresses the effect and the claim of authenticity of photo-like reproductions. These are blank spaces inserted into landscape photographs. … In the form of black geometric figures characterized by an absence of materiality and defined solely by the borders of their outlines, they remove the substrate (negative) from the photographs while, conversely creating a series of inserted…
Mines du Jardin
2012
The visual work Mines du Jardin is a computer generated image series of fictitious plant arrangements. The visual work’s main research was…
The visual work Mines du Jardin is a computer generated image series of fictitious plant arrangements. The visual work’s main research was focused on what extent atmospheric natural images could be generated through pure digital rendering, which not only follow a pure implementation of photographic representation, but are also capable of creating a picturesque haptic of their own visual reality. The series includes three images. Each are freely…
Boltshauser Series
2012
The present image series called “Bolthauser Series” is an experiment in the visual representation of architecture. It is a visual work…
The present image series called “Bolthauser Series” is an experiment in the visual representation of architecture. It is a visual work, consisting of selected realized constructions from the architect Roger Boltshauser, created for the exhibition "Transformator" at the Architecture Gallery in Berlin in 2012. The visual work deals with the fundamental difficulty of converting space into a 2-dimensional image and suggests photographic-like image…
Nature Morte
2010-11
Karl Blossfeldt began to create a systematic, photographic documentation of a wide range of plant species in 1898. His aim was to depict…
Karl Blossfeldt began to create a systematic, photographic documentation of a wide range of plant species in 1898. His aim was to depict nature’s myriad of forms, which he understood as art’s primal forms and thus as the archetype of every design. Today’s visual world is far more complex. A second, digital layer has been added to the already existing physical, analogue environment. In this digital layer, objects can be freely edited and…
Raummodelle
2008
The work "Raummodelle" aspires to explore the question of the extent to which classic rendering techniques can be used to develop…
The work "Raummodelle" aspires to explore the question of the extent to which classic rendering techniques can be used to develop conceptional pictorial approaches that not only try to feign a portrayal of an actual scene but at the same time – despite their photorealistic effect – remain essentially conceptional and abstract and thus challenge the claims to reality made by supposedly photographic pictures. The work offers a possible aesthetics…
Bildbauten
2007-09
The rapid development of computer and information technology has fundamentally changed the relationship between image and architecture as…
The rapid development of computer and information technology has fundamentally changed the relationship between image and architecture as well as their perception. In addition to the conventional types of mostly abstract images used until now in the design and planning phases – sketches, plans, elevations or axonometric drawings - a new type of image is now being used: a digitally created image that appears to be a photograph. In the context of…