As a contribution to the GLOBALE, HA Schult undertook a journey of around 16,000 kilometers from Paris to Beijing in a hybrid electric car from Toyota from 18 June 2015 to 17 April 2016. The route was based on the historic Peking-Paris Rally of 1907, but in the opposite direction. Along the route, he visited cultural institutions and took water samples from rivers and lakes, from which he developed biokinetic images using microscope images.
Action Blue” began in Paris. HA Schult collected water samples from fountains, rivers and inconspicuous puddles in the city and made them the starting point for an extraordinary artistic experiment. Under an electron microscope, the enlarged drops reveal abstract structures of surprising beauty – pictorial worlds reminiscent of cosmic landscapes. In “Action Blue”, Paris stands for the origin of the idea: the poetry of the everyday and the transformation of a fleeting moment into timeless art.
HA Schult continued his journey in Moscow and confronted the fragile aesthetics of water with the monumentality of the metropolis. The works created here reflect tension and contrast: between nature and urbanity, movement and rigidity. Each drop tells of its place of origin and at the same time carries a universal language. In “Action Blue”, Moscow becomes a chapter of contrasts – powerful, raw and at the same time of quiet depth.
Beijing marks the eastern end point of “Action Blue” and at the same time an expansion of the perspective. HA Schult collected water samples over thousands of kilometers along his route to China. The works created in Beijing have a meditative and expansive effect, almost like maps of an unknown universe. They connect cultural spaces and impressively show that a global history is reflected in the smallest drop of water.
One of the works from the “Action Blue” series hangs in every hotel room at THE WELLEM. The art thus becomes part of the personal space and accompanies the guest in an intimate way. Every drop, every structure is unique – a silent dialog between location, art and viewer. HA Schult’s works turn the hotel into a lively gallery and allow the idea of “Action Blue” to continue where tranquillity, architecture and art meet.
