Celestial Creations Austrian Kollerís Works Captivating, at Times Blinding by Heather Nalbone For all of Austriaís celebrated artistsófrom painter Herbert Boeckl to expressionist Egon Schieleófew have been featured at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, D.C. The cultural staff prefers works of a less trendy genre. ìWe like to get away from the traditional, I guess, clichÈ side of Austria,î said Eleonora Windisch, cultural counselor at the embassy. ìKarl Heinz Koller: A Retrospectiveî fits that bill perfectly. Part photography, part celestial imagery, Kollerís works are more than a bit mystical. The first solo exhibit abroad since the Austrian artistís death in 1995 pays tribute to Koller through a display of his films, notebooks and photographic images. The focal point of the collection is a small series of mandala-like images Koller created by taking snapshots of various objects as they rotated on a turntable. Most pieces are composed of dozens of repeated images looped into a cyclical pattern and suspended in the cosmic darkness of a recurring black background. In one configuration, Kollerís unique photographic method inter twined the roots and stems of what appears to be a garden of scallions. In another, a wreath of dry leaves surrounds an endless sea of stars. One of the most eye-catching pieces, however, is a concentric compilation of dozens of red rose petals hovering in space. Kollerís photographic creations are not in the same category as the deistic mandalas of Tibetan Buddhism, yet there is an otherworldly quality to Kollerís celestial patterns and the way they were formed. The unique techniques he used to create the images are a mystery even to the embassyís cultural counselor, who admits his artistic methods were somewhat difficult for her to grasp when the artistís son explained them during a recent visit. But whatever the method, the creations are captivating and at times blinding. The colors and shapes are so strategically placed that some images give off a seemingly iridescent glow even in midday, when sunlight streams through the embassy buildingís skylights. Kollerís films and videos are even more peculiar than his photographic arrangements, with titles such as ìSpace Time Diagrams: Interval Pieceî and ìEinsteinís Dream.î Through some sort of equally puzzling technique, these recordings synthesize moving shapes and particles of varying shades to the accompaniment of discordant or soothing music, depending on the film. The display is small when compared to all that Koller created, but it is big enough to get a taste of his largely unvarying, though singular, works. It took his wife and son months to plow through the more than 10,000 photographs and several dozen notebooks, not to mention the films and videos made late in the artistís career. Windisch hopes to see the Koller exhibit move on to New York or another U.S. location after its run at the embassy. The 33-piece collection will also become part of a larger retrospective in Vienna next June. ìKarl Heinz Koller: A Retrospectiveî runs through Sept. 15 at the Embassy of Austria, 3524 International Court, NW. For more information, please call (202) 895-6745 or visit www.austria.org. Heather Nalbone is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.