HA Schult

The "Biokinetic Situations" probably constitute the common ground in his artistic work. Here lies the greatness of his art, which mediates between the pre-aesthetic concept of art and the modernity of his artistic strategies. Through this mediation, the apparent contradiction in the artistic type Schult so tersely embodies is abolished, the contradiction which is explained by the specific position of the artist within the contemporary art world, contrary to the artistic avant-garde and nevertheless advanced by a demand of Theodor W. Adorno:

"The pure concept of Art would accordingly not have the perimeters of a definitely defined area, but rather would establish itself each time anew, in a momentary and fragile balance, which could more than be compared to the psychological balance of Ego and It. The process of repelling must be perpetually renewed. Every artwork is moment; every successful artwork is a balance, a momentary pause in the process, as it is revealed to the perservering eye, that lethargic organ, with this dynamic concept of art but he does not keep it at that."

He not only mobilizes the other human senses but uses them as channels, so to speak, through which he can directly influence every person, and move him or her to an examination or perhaps a correction of his or her intellectual and spiritual standpoints. Although he captured his 'biokinetic structures' in bewitchingly beautiful showcases, called the synthesis of his work methods - 'the demonstrative and the meditative' - by Eberhard Roters, his artistic actions almost always appealed to all the human senses. Klaus Honnef, 1989

The War of the Microbes Thoughts about art have been dispelled. One finds oneself in a science fiction world. At the end of the exhibition, in four weeks, fungi and bacteria will have overgrown everything. I imagine how first the castle, and formerly one of the largest chemical centers, are both slowly covered by microorganisms and made inert and how they then relentlessly and rampantly grow and spread. I imagine a rare pathogen carried in by a visitor that finds flora and a climate in a corner in room 5 that promotes its explosive proliferation.

Schult is successful in rather sensuously demonstrating the existence of these microorganisms, which constantly surround us and are both life threatening and essential, outside of the clean atmosphere of the laboratory placing them in areas that drive our thoughts away from familiar functionality into areas of an illusionary-aesthetic dimension. In all of Schult’s situations it is important that the impulse comes from objects that we are only used to seeing and understanding as expected. If we have seen them otherwise, we will then also be able to understand them differently in their mundane manifestation.

Pop Art brought objects of daily life into consciousness by accentuating, enlarging and isolating them in their aesthetic and socio-qualities. Schult makes processes visible. His bio-kinetic situation looks different each day. He raises our awareness; he expands our consciousness regarding objects and processes without taking away our freedom to choose between thinking and dreaming. He makes us more sensitive. He has to sacrifice his exhibition when its time has come to an end, so that it does not overgrow the castle and then…

Wolfgang Längsfeld, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 1969