Reinhard Hanke

Numbers. Not the favourite subject for any aesthete who suffered during maths lessons at school; even if these numbers are presented as shadow plays in acrylic glass, built into carefully graduated compositions appearing in the background as engineered script on computer printouts. However, this is exactly the method of the artist Reinhard Hanke (born in 1951); whether they make up a pay slip or a mathematical formula for technical development, every day, numbers determine our lives. Misplaced numbers can have unforeseen consequences. Hanke sees numbers as representing all the inconsistencies of the modern man or woman: all-inclusive scholarship and economy with its desire for universal validity and complete control; and, at the same time, expressing our hopes and fears though symbolic content of intercultural validity. Numbers are omnipresent and interculturally authoritative; they speak a language that is understood by all, which, at the same time, is enriched and hindered by our personal experiences.