Johanna Strobel

Lives and works in New York, NY, USA

Artist statement

Throughout my multifaceted practice, I am invested in time and entanglement, and in derivative concepts like change, entropy, connectivity, and information and in how these concepts relate to our socio-ecological world. Influenced by my interdisciplinary background in mathematics, information science, education, and art, I weave together philosophical concepts, scientific theories, psychological observations, critical examination of neoliberal ideology, and my concern about the temporal ramifications of the climate crisis. I create research-based videos, animations, and nonlinear interconnected systems of objects which entangle ideas, matter, and meaning to examine relationships between body and object, order and chaos, presence and absence, and time and structure. My works challenge static notions of truth, proposing that perception, material, and memory shape how we construct the world. One area of inquiry in my work centers on knots, knot theory, networks, and nets as both conceptual and sculptural principles: Knot making, an ancient craft, is an algorithmic method for folding linear elements into spatial form, reflecting both physical connection and structural transformation through motion in time. At the same time, knots and networks offer conceptual models for analyzing ecological and sociopolitical systems. My practice is not media specific. I try to find the conceptually most appropriate form for each project, which often requires me to learn new processes and...

Artwork