Figur auf Grund takes these two classical terms, which originally come from cognitive linguistics, to describe how we perceive and define objects and separate them from their surroundings. With roots in Gestalt Therapy, these terms have become central to the discussions of art. 

These designations became technical tools to approach the organization of a composition, and artists have studied the play between the two usually with the purpose of making the figure standout from the ground. With the advance of non-representational work and phenomenological art forms, the viewer themselves started to become the actual figure within the larger ground of the exhibition space. 

This presentation builds off of the formal experiments of Christian Megert, who utilises mirrors for an optical experience which reflects the viewer in the frame of the picture, to then consider these active encounters where one's own figure and respective ground become an essential component of the work. Expanding on this type of socially directed artistic constructions, these artists move in and out of abstracted formal gestures to realize an art beyond the picture, forming projects which blur the definitions of figure and ground. Seeking to find a space which not merely pictures our world, these artworks fold us into their formal construction to articulate a play within our expanded social landscape.