Over the last two weeks you may have spotted a man in a blue coverall prowling the corridors of the Belgo building, taping black paper squares and acetates on the walls, and screen printing all over the fourth floor. The man in question is Stefan Hoffmann, artist in residence at Arprim, who has been invited to create a site-specific artwork. Inspired by the panel of the Belgo’s alarm system in the building’s lobby, Hoffmann has created a text-based work which focuses the panel’s main commands. The fine, white outline of words such as “Alarm Silence,” “System Reset,” and “Disabled Points” are printed across the deep black pixel squares which spell in wall-sized letters ALL SYSTEMS NORMAL. The anchor of the piece is located in Arprim’s exhibition space, where the letters span across two walls. But now Hoffmann has expanded the work outside the confines of the gallery, and his broken lettering and delicate ideograms are spilling out onto the walls of the Belgo’s fourth floor.

“I’m not really a printer,” admits Hoffmann in a recent interview at Arprim. “I got my start in multi-media installation. But I soon discovered that screen-printing is a flexible, simple, cheap medium to create an installation piece.” Hoffmann is by no means a purist. The black squares which make up the lettering are created using a small paint roller. The effect is still clean and professional. “There is a lot of talk among printers about the beauty of the deep black. All that obsession with the process of printing gets on my nerves.” Then he smiles and steps up close to the wall. “But you know, now that I’ve finished my piece here I have to say – that’s a really nice black!” He laughs. “I love it.”

Hoffmann sees ALL SYSTEMS NORMAL as more than a site-specific print work. It is also a performance piece. “My process is completely open, anyone can see how I work,” says the artist. That applies to his initial research and development of the concept to the actual screen-printing which he does in the building during normal business hours. “Everything you do in a space designated to the arts becomes a performance. It’s automatic.”

As a resident of the fourth floor myself (my gallery is just across the hall from Arprim), it has been a pleasure watching Hoffmann work, as he makes creative choices moving a piece of text a little to the right, then a little to the left, then hauling a large printing screen down the corridor. It’s as though the entire building is his art studio. His screen prints now adorn most walls, and I’m delighted to live inside one of Hoffmann’s artworks.

If you would like to see Stefan Hoffmann at work and hear him talk about the piece ALL SYSTEMS NORMAL, please view the video below. Mais attention, c’est en français.

Arprim, space 426
Stefan Hoffmann
ALL SYSTEMS NORMAL
artist in residence: October 11 – November 16, 2011
exhibition: October 29 – December 3, 2011
www.arprim.org