Kunsthalle Wien

Ulla Wiggen (b. 1942, Stockholm) began painting electronic components in 1963. Initially working from audio equipment, in 1965 she was invited to see the newly completed TRASK computer at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm: ‘I jumped at the opportunity, took my camera and photographed everything I thought was visually interesting in the six tall cabinets with glass doors inside which the computer was held. I felt the charge of optimism for the future in the room, and that I was part of the beginning of something big that would change the world.’ Oändligt variabel (1968) is the penultimate work in this series, combining components from several machines and referring to the principle of interconnected units in a technological universe. Wiggen explains: ‘Engineers would point to my paintings here and there and say that these are short circuits, that these would not be functional but it seems to amuse them to see their world through my eyes.’