Noah Wyss — Matazz

Noah Ismael Wyss

Noah Ismael Wyss investigates material relationships and power structures through sculpture and installation, questioning humanity’s position within broader ecological, social, and technological systems.
His practice brings together two contrasting visual languages: primeval elements, used to contextualize social and technological developments, and science fiction, employed as a framework for speculative storytelling. Through these approaches, he creates alternative visions of social and technological cultures while disrupting normative categories.

Reflections on Zahn der Zeit and Art Dock, Zürich:

How does context shape your artistic process?

I don’t really believe in quantifying the artistic process. It always looks different, and each step should have the freedom to become more important if it needs to. In that sense, context is always influential; if I already have a certain context in mind, the process is happily shaped by it.
For the exhibition Zahn der Zeit, we showed an existing work, The Modern Prometheus. Because of that, the setup became the main moment where dialogue between work and space, and a potential transformation, would happen.
Sadly, I wasn’t available for the setup, but the Matazz team did a great job curating and adjusting The Modern Prometheus to the space it was shown in. I especially loved the lighting situation: it shed light, literally, on the more eerie nature of the work. Also, some parts were left out, which transformed the installation more into a sculpture.

How did Art Under Dock shape your Artwork?

I believe the White Cube is often an attempt to approximate a neutral space, one that eludes factors like context or transience, a kind of vacuum. Of course, this can never really be achieved, and the White Cube is just as laden with meaning as any other context.
Matazz’s exhibition Zahn der Zeit didn’t try to evade or ignore the specific conditions and transience of the location, but rather embraced them. This created a focus on an otherwise often overlooked aspect of an exhibition setting which I really appreciate, one that is almost always, and in this case especially, rich with potential.