Roman Signer, The Swiss Artist Who Makes Mountains Erupt And Tables Sink

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Roman Signer takes his furniture on wild journeys. He plays with fire, simulates landslides and sends tables soaring into the air or sinking to the bottom of the ocean. SWI swissinfo caught up with the Swiss artist ahead of his new exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zurich. This content was published on May 4, 2025 - 10:00 8 minutes

I'm interested in how Switzerland has ended up where it is and what connects it with the world – beyond legends of saints and success stories.

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Roman Signer even transformed Appenzell's Kamor mountain into a volcano in 1986 with his explosive art. Super-8-Still: Peter Liechti

Volcanoes in Switzerland stopped erupting millions of years ago. The last lava flows on Swiss territory occurred when tectonic plates were still shaping the Alps. But in 1986 the Kamor mountain in northeastern Switzerland erupted – temporarily. For two minutes, the peak in Appenzell spewed fire as if it were Italy's Mount Vesuvius or Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull.

The eruption wasn't a geological anomaly; it was art. Signer carried black gunpowder to the summit and gifted his home country a temporary volcano.

“I like it when nature reveals its destructive side, for example as a landslide or an avalanche. A peaceful creek can suddenly turn into a raging river during floods. It doesn't always behave,” Signer told SWI swissinfo at the opening of his latest exhibition.“It's almost as if nature says 'Watch out! I am someone'.”

Popularity on social media

Roman Signer was long considered a quirky tinkerer from eastern Switzerland, and Swiss media still label him a“rascal”.

Roman Signer at the opening of his current exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zürich. Stefan Rohner

But Signer has become one Switzerland's most internationally acclaimed artists. He is equally valued by art collectors and an internet-based fan community, far removed from the art world. His breakthrough came at the 1987 contemporary art exhibition Documenta, where he blew up thousands of sheets of paper, sending them through the air and briefly creating a“paper wall”.

Signer is a big fan of fireworksExternal link . In one of his videos, a rocket whips the hat off his head; in another, a burst of fireworks sends both his office chair and him spinning in circles.

Roman Signer's performance“Office Chair”, 2006. Roman Signer

Many of his works have a short narrative, just like slapstick comedy, which has earned him plenty of likes on social media. In Switzerland, he is often perceived as an“explosive” artist who is primarily known for his entertainment value.

Signer does not like being reduced to Switzerland's demolition master. At the opening of his latest exhibition, journalists were asked to stay clear of headlines referring to explosions and blasts as they fail to capture the true essence of his work.

Collaborating with nature

The title of his new exhibition,“Landscape”, is deliberately calm. Normally, museums shut out the outside world, but for this exhibition the Kunsthaus Zurich has left the space wide open. Sunlight pours through the windows which frame a view of trees, cars and the city beyond. Even the usual partition walls are missing, allowing the outside world to blend seamlessly with the art.

There is only one piece of art that is kept behind white walls and glass, purely for the safety of the visitors. At the opening, Signer set a decorated and motorised Christmas tree spinning so furiously that it hurled its Christmas baubles like glittering shrapnel.

The Christmas tree and its shattered baubles remain behind glass for the safety of the audience. Roman Signer

Signer has long insisted that nature isn't just his source of inspiration, it's his co-author, complementing his work with its raw forces. For him, collaborating with nature can mean surrendering to gravity.

This is evident in performances where he wears fisherman's trousers that slowly fill with water until gravity takes over and forces him to the ground. Or when he recreates his own version of a landslide.

Artistic shift in the 1970s

Signer discovered art relatively late in life. Born in 1938, he only decided to study sculpture in the mid-1960s following a serious illness. A turning point came in 1969, when he visited Harald Szeemann's groundbreaking exhibition“When Attitudes Become Form”with his art school. This visit was pivotal: sculpture shed its rigidity, and personal mythologies took the spotlight. Artists began experimenting like scientists and developed their own theories, like Joseph Beuys for example.

More More The subtle and moving art of Roman Signer

This content was published on Aug 29, 2014 “I like it when something happens,” muses Roman Signer, whose films, sculptures and installations reveal a deliberate self-irony. Some of the Swiss artist's most recent and attention-grabbing works are now on show at the Kunstmuseum St Gallen.

Read more: The subtle and moving art of Roman Signe

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