top of page

if then else

2019

LAb[au], Manuel Abendroth, Els Vermang
Size: 80x40cm
Technique: white Neon

unique edition

...

2019 ___ - IF THEN ELSE, Casino Luxembourg, Luxembourg City
2020 - 21 - YES: NO, PERHAPS, Mario Mauroner Contemporary, Vienna

If Then Else is a conditional statement in programming language, subject to Boolean evaluation, true or false, 0 or 1. The origin of the expression can be traced to the philosophy of language and its predicate logic, which enables us to combine algorithmic and conceptual thinking with aesthetics.

As a neon sign hanging in a space it confronts programing logics with written/spoken language, two different set of meaning. As a light sign, it draws a reference to the neon statements of Joseph Kosuth quoting Wittgenstein’s Tractatus inducing a reflection on the epistemological nature of sense as condition for art. Its handwritten nature attributes a tenderness to the austerity of both the statement as the cold light, rendering the phrase into an almost poetic construct.

Variations:

( )

Bracketing is a technique used both in programming as in philosophy: In programming, bracketing is a punctuation used to establish the order of operation or evaluation. In philosophy, bracketing is a verb used to suspense judgement about reality to focus on experience. It’s a commonly used feature within phenomenology, which grew out of Kant’s distinction between ‘phenomena’ (existence object to the senses) and ‘noumena’ (existence independent from the senses).

Run

Run is a command in programming language to start a program, contrary to its meaning in human language where the first intuitive understanding of the word ‘run’ would be to move away; to avoid doing something.

...

bottom of page