Saturday, 25 October 2025 - Sunday, 09 November 2025 Show all dates
Opening on October 25, 2025, at 2:00 PM, the exhibition will be on display until November 9, 2025 - free entry!
9th Water Biennale | Herbert De Colle | Emotion – Landscape
“Emotion”, a series of flat, disc-shaped papier-mâché objects in standardized form, color palette, and size. What they have in common is their recognizability as that circular symbol with two dots and an arc below, which has become a universally readable and usable communication tool since its invention by American graphic designer Harvey Ball in 1963.
Starting from the installations originally designed for indoor spaces, Herbert De Colle presents an adapted version of his “Emotion”-series. The language of emoticons is here transferred into an expanded context. The symbols now available in countless variations in digital communication are reduced to a seemingly neutral expression and serially handcrafted from papier-mâché. Unlike in our everyday communication, the constant repetition of the most elemental scheme of a face (two dots/one line) brings the origin of the symbols back into focus. By transferring them to the banks of the Hühnerbach, the “smileys” now appear in contrast to nature and reveal their archaic character.
Fürstenfeld - Marieninsel, gegenüber Freibad