- The Charm
- 2025
- Kunstverein Wilhelmshöhe
Documentation video
“Entering Nicolas Fehr’s multi-part work The Charm, we find ourselves in a darkened room where a fountain takes center stage — constructed from architectural fragments, historic double doors from the Wilhelminian era, and etched glass panels. The fountain, an archetypal symbol of the connection between different levels of existence and spheres of knowledge, has long served as a site of transformation and insight — from ancient nymphaea and medieval wishing wells to the elaborate fountain programs of the Baroque period. The installation draws on this layered symbolism: a place where multiple realities intersect.
Fehr designs the installation as a cohesive spatial choreography with carefully orchestrated dramaturgy. A second narrative layer unfolds on a large screen: here, a hand flips through various television channels. A mysterious figure repeatedly appears — a kind of alter ego of the artist — slipping into different roles: reporter, pop star, scientist, or reality TV protagonist. Shifts in lighting sweep through the space, engaging in a dialogue with the eight-channel audio loop. Specially composed songs intertwine with the video sequences, creating a fragmented narrative structure. What emerges is a dynamic interplay of moods and ideas, constantly opening up new layers of meaning within the installation.
The historical topos of the fountain becomes a complex bearer of meaning in Fehr’s work. In times of global uncertainty, it manifests as a symbolic space of reflection — a site where the relationship between individual desires and collective abysses is explored.
The installation opens up a multi-layered associative space, where fairy tales and myths merge with questions of desire and belief, of the sacred and the diabolical within the everyday. It creates a field of tension between personal experience and societal discourse, between material presence and immaterial significance."
~ Alex Besta, Artistic Director Kunstverein Wilhelmshöhe