Exhibition
Fictional Technologies
Alexander Trommler
Vernisssage
29.08.2025 | 19.00 – 22.00
30.08.2025 | 15.00 – 18.00
Finisssage
26.09.2025 | 19.00 – 22.00
Exhibition duration
29.08.2025 until 26.09.2025
Fictional Technologies
An exhibition by and with Alexander Trommler
The “Fictional Technologies” series presents sculptural works of art that merge technology and art in the form of scientific instruments.
The Fictional Technologies series presents sculptural artworks that fuse art and technology in the form of scientific instruments. These instruments combine both aesthetic and mechanical vocabularies and are displayed like museum objects of historical significance. They project specific functions and are accompanied by clearly worded yet dubious descriptions. The viewer, intrigued by the historical aura, is drawn to tracing the interconnections between art, science, and technology.
The museum quality of the exhibited objects invite inquiry into how these instruments reflect the particular state of scientific and technological practices of a given period. However, this reflection is invariably challenged by the object’s aesthetic appeal, providing grounds for irony and entertainment.
Wave Profile Generator
Institute for Fluid Mechanics and Aerodynamics
University of Zadar, Croatia, 1978
Flux-Density Optical Magnetometer
Maud Worcester and Lois Tripp-Slocum
University of California Berkeley, USA, 1929
Fluid Dynamics Behavior Model
Fachbereich Ingenieurwesen und angewandte Wissenschaft, Kalifornisches Institut für Technologie
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (USA), 1966
In their careful construction, the sculptural artworks recall authentic institutions and inventors who in previous centuries explored the natural world through special technological devices invented by way of daring imagination.
The attached texts extend the scientific and technological discourses that might have triggered the creation of instruments of this kind. They deliver an aesthetically inspired base for contemporary reflections of analog technology. Playful discovery and dry scientific distance find balance within the artworks. In this vein, the sculptures and their texts become an exploration between precision and abstraction.
The Development of the Fictional Technologies Series
For some time now, I have explored the interplay of glass and metal, specifically in the form of optics and balance, within my sculptures. This has inevitably led towards the realm of technology, as an inspiration and association for the aesthetic as well as the historic object. Along this path, I’ve developed the concept of Fictional Technologies, in which the glass element, often embedded in a freely constructed metal armature, becomes perceptible as a new — or perhaps old — technical instrument. The accompanying scientific explanation of the object guides our perception into unexpected directions of detail and irony.
The first sculptures of the Fictional Technologies series were created during my master’s studies in glass and sculpture at Southern Illinois University in 2010. The first exhibition of fully developed Fictional Technologies works took place in 2015 at the Firehouse Gallery in Chicago and gave me further impulse to develop this concept on a more complete scale. In the past few years, to bring the quality of metalwork up to that of my glass components, I have employed a machinist and a silversmith, as a bridge into precision and historical patinas - helping to realize my vision of a harmonic interaction between metal and glass.
The objects emerge from an interest with cultural technologies across various countries and eras. Through research in museum collections, I closely examine the specific material character of different periods as well as their historical context, and infuse humor to the construction of my sculptures. The aim is to spark the imagination of viewers with these surprising and not immediately decipherable objects. The ironic scientific explanatory texts stimulate an open-ended aesthetic — and at the same time technically plausible — experience.
Alexander Trommler
Alex Trommler is a visual artist who works with glass and precision metalwork. From 2002 to 2006, he studied at Alfred University in New York State, a university with strong ties to the Bauhaus tradition. In his artistic practice, he combines a wide variety of materials and techniques to experiment with the fluidity and strength as well as the appearance and volume of glass.
Born in Philadelphia (USA) in 1984, he earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from Southern Illinois University in 2012. Since then, he has helped establish glass art studios across the country, developed new curricula for the Art Institute of Chicago, and taught at renowned institutions such as the Pilchuck Glass School and the Corning Museum of Glass.
Since 2018, he has been living and working in Munich, where he is a project manager at Mayerschen Hofkunstanstalt GmbH – Mayer of Munich tätig ist.
2012
MFA 3 Dimensional Studies, Studio Glass
Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Illinois
2006
BFA 3 Dimensional Studies, Studio Glass
Alfred University, Alfred, New York
BA German Language
Alfred University, Alfred New York
2005
Semester Exchange Abroad Junior Year in Munich
Ludwig Maximilian’s University, Germany
2001
Workshops 2 and 3 Dimensional Studies
Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Selected Exhibitions
2025
Fictional Technologies, Galerie Gerhard Grabsdorf, Munich Germany
2020
ImPossible Futures, Galerie Christoph Dürr, Munich, Germany
2019
Die Kunst Verbindet alle Welt, Pasinger Fabrik, Munich, Germany
2015
Fictional Technologies, group show, Firehouse Art Studio, Chicago, IL
2014
Ceramics and Glass, group show, Ukrainian Museum of Modern Art, Chicago, Illinois
2012
Gradient Surface, MFA Thesis, Carbondale, Illinois
2011
Review, Third Degree Glass Factory, St. Louis, Missouri
Advancing Perspectives, Third Degree Glass Factory, St. Louis, Missouri
2010
Oxford Art Alliance Showcase, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania
Glass at 40, University Museum, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
2009
Residents, North Lands Creative Glass Gallery, Lybster, Scotland
2007
Gallery in the Garden, Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania
Festival Dozinky, Museum of Agriculture, Prague, Czech Republic
2006
Ethereal Volumes, BFA Thesis, Robert Turner Gallery, Alfred, New York
New Castings, Sculpture Box Gallery, Alfred, New York
2005
Inverse Forms, Rooftop Architectural Neon Installation, Harder Hall, Alfred, New York
JYM Illustrated, glass engraving, JYM Program Office, Munich, Germany
Cosmic Microwave Radiation Detector
Dr. Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Radio Astronomy Group
University of Cambridge, England
Winter 1968
Plasma Distribution Buffer
血漿分布バッファー
RIKEN Advanced Science Institute, Wako, Saitama, Japan
in partnership with Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Egypt
2001-2002
Equatorially Mounted
Telescope Alignment Calibrator
Armagh Observatory
Northern Ireland
1793
Flux-Density Optical Magnetometer
Maud Worcester and Lois Tripp-Slocum
University of California Berkeley, USA
1929
Magnetic Levitation Railway
Track Calibration Gauge (Model 1)
Dr. Edmund Cassius Wild
Department of Glass Engineering
University of Birmingham, England
with
Dr. Marvella Santiago
CSIRO Research Centre
Culgoora, New South Wales, Australia.
Spring 1981
Spannungsdisplay och Himmelsk Barometer
(Celestial Voltage Barometer)
aka
The Swedish Barometer
Stockholm, Sweden
Fall 1808
Dynamic Fuel System Interface
Dr. Millicent Gehy
Department of Mathematics
University of Chicago
and
Dr. Regina Raage
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology, California
Spring 2013
Wave Profile Generator
Model 2-iO
Institute for Fluid Mechanics and Aerodynamics
University of Zadar, Croatia
1978
Fluid Dynamics Behavior Model
Separation of liquid fuels
using an advanced slosh baffle
Department of Engineering and Applied Science
California Institute of Technology
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (USA)
1966
Reassembled during a joint project with students from
Leiden University (Netherlands)
1981
Exhibition Catalog
Publisher: Gerhard Grabsdorf Publishing House
Scope: 56 pages + cover
Size: approx. 8.3 x 11.7 inches
Cover material: 235 g chromo cardboard
Finishing Envelope: single-sided foil laminated, matte
Material inside: 170 g image print matt
Available in the gallery or online.
Vernissage
Eindrücke von der Vernissage am 29.08.2025.