Peter Weibel

Ortlos

Artists
Peter Weibel
Title
Ortlos
Year
1995/2019
Medium / Material / Technic
Plexiglass, Letraset, metal bar
Size / Duration
55 × 151,4 × 1 cm

The work »Ortlos« [Placeless] consists of a Plexiglas pane on the front and back of which the alphabet is written three times, one below the other, in white and black characters, respectively. On the side with the white letters, the characters »O« in the first row, »R« in the second row, and »T« in the third row are replaced by holes. On the side with the black letters the characters »L,« »O,« and »S« are missing. Only by looking at both sides of the pane can the missing letters be grasped and the word »ORTLOS« formed in the mind’s eye. The meaning of the word in this work goes hand in hand with its material reality. »ORTLOS« is placeless. A new form of writing technology for the quantum computer: Not individual letters are controlled, but the alphabet chain as a whole is scanned or moved back and forth in front of a sensor and the intended letter is deleted and thus stored.