Earthly Things – Ghostly Matters
Hanspeter Keller
Hanspeter Keller, born in Schattdorf Uri, lives and works in Uster. His artistic practices focus on drawing, object art and animated film. Through art he walks through the world more attentively, exploring the illusion of truth and the workings of serious irony. Inspiration comes from science in the broadest sense – astronomy, evolution, memory, and perceptual phenomena. He draws his motivation from choosing from many ideas the one that is closest to him. With apparent seriousness, he feigns verifiable scientificity and thus manages to put our perceptions, beliefs and realities in a humorous light. Long-standing projects include his fictitious planetary system with imagined fauna and flora, as well as his own museum ‘ddnakw.ch’, a repository of unrealised works of art. However, he also creates spontaneous, stand-alone works.
Hanspeter Keller, Projekt SMSS J031300. Photos courtesy of the artist
Project SMSS J031300
Hanspeter Keller’s starting point and inspiration is a star: this star, known as SMSS J031300.36-670839.3, was discovered by Australian researchers in 2014. At 13.6 billion years old, it is the oldest known star and is located 6000 light years away in the Milky Way. Keller is fascinated by the idea that there could be a planetary system on which life exists around this star, which itself is uninhabitable at almost 5000 degrees Celsius.
This idea has long inspired him to create a fictional world: He designs shapes and figures and uses them to create a cosmos of fantastic flora and fauna.
Das Projekt SMSS J031300
Ausgangspunkt und Inspiration für Hanspeter Keller ist ein Stern: Dieser Stern mit der Bezeichnung SMSS J031300.36-670839.3 wurde 2014 von australischen Forschern entdeckt. Er gilt mit 13,6 Milliarden Jahren als ältester bekannter Stern und liegt 6000 Lichtjahre entfernt in der Milchstrasse. Keller ist fasziniert von der Vorstellung, dass es um diesen herum, der mit fast 5000 Grad Celsius selbst unbewohnbar ist, ein Planetensystem geben könnte, auf dem Leben existiert.
Seit längerem inspiriert ihn diese Idee dazu, eine fiktive Welt zu erschaffen: Er entwirft Formen und Figuren und lässt daraus einen Kosmos aus fantastischer Flora und Fauna entstehen.