MANUEL ROSSNER

Resident November 2024

Manuel Rossner (* 1989) lives and works in Berlin. He studied art at the University of Art and Design Offenbach, the École des Arts-Décoratifs Paris and the Tongji College for Design and Innovation Shanghai.

Since 2012, Rossner has been designing digital spaces and virtual worlds in which he investigates the effects of technological developments on society and art. He builds interactive architecture with digital materials that are spatial interventions and virtual extensions.

"Lecce stone, the limestone native to Salento, has been a favored material for centuries due to its relative softness, making it ideal for intricate sculptures, magnificent facades, and ornamental emblems found throughout Galatina. However, the very qualities that make it so workable also make it more susceptible to degradation, a feature strikingly evident in the region’s historical palaces.
To my surprise, I discovered a distinct natural pattern within Lecce stone: a remarkable resemblance to what is known in computer science and chemical physics as reaction-diffusion patterns or Turing patterns. This phenomenon inspired me to 3D-scan the stone and prepare it for digital simulations of various forms of dissolution. Through this process, I aim to explore the constant tension between the inevitable entropy of the physical world and the unique forms of decay inherent in digital technologies."