The Gallery Apart è lieta di presentare la terza personale in galleria di Astrid Nippoldt, artista di stanza a Berlino ma cosmopolita per vocazione, come si evince anche dal ciclo “OAKWOOD” presentato per la prima volta in Italia. Se per il precedente progetto “Pattern of Paradise (Cape Coral)” la tappa romana aveva rappresentato il preludio alla immediatamente successiva presentazione in ambito museale, ora l’ordine dei fattori è invertito, giacché Oakwood è stato presentato per la prima volta al Museum Kurhaus Kleve in Germania, corredato anche di un catalogo ora disponibile in galleria.
Nippoldt orienta questa volta il suo obiettivo videofotografico verso la Cina, ma come sempre è un pretesto per inquadrare comportamenti umani specifici e transitori da cui trarre suggestioni universali. Incontrata per caso, grazie ad un’amica che stava vivendo l’esperienza, la catena di residenze Oakwood (oltre 25.000 alloggi nel mondo destinati a comunità temporanee di uomini e donne che si muovono per affari), Nippoldt ne rimane intrigata soprattutto per gli effetti collaterali sulla vita di mogli e mariti che di quegli uomini e donne d’affari sono solo accompagnatori.
Recatasi a Pechino in una delle residenze Oakwood, Nippoldt si immerge in una ricerca socio-psicologica che rifugge dalla tentazione meramente documentaristica o di reportage per privilegiare piuttosto una visione per metafore e trasformazioni visuali. Il frutto di questa impostazione sono i due video “Oakwood Garden” e “My Day”, il primo girato in notturna per restituire il senso di grottesco e nel contempo di seduzione che il luogo evoca, il secondo riprendendo l’esterno da un interno quale rappresentazione di un confine tra un dentro ovattato, lussuoso e sicuro e un fuori indeterminato e minaccioso.
I due video non intendono offrire due versioni diverse di uno stesso fenomeno. “My Day”, sobrio e laconico, e “Oakwood Garden”, immaginifico e colorato seppur nell’oscurità, danno luogo ad un’ambivalenza visiva in cui malinconia e bellezza vengono mescolate fino a farne una sintesi perturbante che lascia lo spettatore in preda ad un sentimento indefinito. Se “My Day” produce un tragicomico corto circuito, anche in virtù del genere maschile del protagonista che lo rende ancora più solo nello splendido isolamento della residenza, “Oakwood Garden” si nutre di antitesi, tra bellezza e fugacità, tra tentativi e fallimenti, tra tranelli e illusioni.
Come in tutti i progetti di Nippoldt, al versante video si accompagna una produzione fotografica in cui concetti, pensieri e obiettivi non cambiano, anzi si arricchiscono di immagini che il filtro dell’artista rende uniche pur restando di stretta derivazione dalla realtà. Al pari delle immagini, anche la colonna sonora dei video affonda le radici in situazioni reali, trattandosi di suoni e rumori che l’artista raccoglie, cataloga ed archivia.
Astrid Nippoldt ha inoltre dato vita per l’occasione ad un blog che accompagnerà la mostra durante il periodo di apertura, una sorta di diario per appunti che consentirà di entrare ancora meglio nell’immaginario dell’artista e nelle sue modalità di ricerca. Sarà possibile visitare il blog dal sito di Cura Magazine (www.curamagazine.com) o andando direttamente all’indirizzo dailymorror.wordpress.com.

The Gallery Apart is pleased to present the third solo show by Astrid Nippoldt to be hosted in our art gallery, an artist based in Berlin but cosmopolitan by vocation, as shown by the series “OAKWOOD” presented for the first time in Italy. If, for the previous project titled “Pattern of Paradise (Cape Coral)” the Rome exhibition represented a prelude to the following presentation in the museum spaces, now the order is reversed, Oakwood in fact has been presented for the first time at the Museum Kurhaus Kleve in Germany, also accompanied by a catalogue now available at the art gallery.
Nippoldt points her videographic lens towards China, but it is just a pretext to frame particular and transitory human behaviours from which drawing universal ideas and suggestions. As she knew about it almost by chance, thanks to a friend of the artist who was living in one of the Oakwood residencies (over 25,000 residencies worldwide offered to temporary communities of male and female corporate travelers), Nippoldt is particularly intrigued by the side effects on the existences of the expatriates’ spouses who decide to follow his or her life partner.
As she went to Beijing to live in one of the Oakwood residencies, Nippoldt delved herself into a socio-psychological research that shies away from a purely documentary presentation or reportage to instead look for metaphors and visual transformations. The results of this vision are the two videos “Oakwood Garden” and “My Day”. The first video was shot at night in order to recreate the mixture of grotesque and seduction evoked by the place, whereas the second video was shot by filming the outside from an inner perspective as a representation of the border between a cosy, luxury and safe interior and an uncertain and threatening outside.
The two videos do not aim to give two different versions of the same phenomenon. “My Day”, sober and laconic, and “Oakwood Garden”, highly imaginative and colourful, even in the darkness, give rise to a visual ambivalence where melancholy and beauty are mixed into a disturbing synthesis that lets the viewer falling prey to an indeterminate feeling. If, on the one hand, “My Day” produces a tragicomic short circuit, also by virtue of the male gender of the protagonist that makes him even lonelier in the splendid isolation of the residence; on the other hand, “Oakwood Garden” feeds on contrasts, between beauty and evanescence, attempts and failures, traps and illusions.
Like all the works of art by Nippoldt, the video series is accompanied by a collection of photographs inspired by the same concepts, thoughts and objectives, also enriched with images that, still inspired by real situations, are made unique by the artist’s filter. Likewise, also the videos’ soundtrack sinks its roots in reality, as it consists of original sounds and noises recorded and catalogued by the artist in her own sound –archive.
Astrid Nippoldt moreover has started a blog that will accompany the forthcoming exhibition to document its progress, it is a sort of diary that affords insights into the artist’s imaginary and her artmaking and investigation practices. You can access the blog from the Cura Magazine website (www.curamagazine.com) or visit the blog at the following link dailymorror.wordpress.com.



ASTRID NIPPOLDT

Born in 1973 in Gießen, Germany. She lives and works in Berlin.

1993 - 1998 Visual Communications, University of Applied Sciences, Münster
1997 - 2003 Visual Arts, University of the Arts, Bremen, with Jean-François Guiton and Yuji Takeoka, Atelier of Time-based Media
2000-2007 studio at the Künstlerhaus Brema

SOLO EXHIBITION (selected after 2005)

2015 OAKWOOD, The Gallery Apart, Roma
2013 OAKWOOD, Museum Kurhaus Kleve
ESPACES COMPLEXES/KOMPLEXRAUM, with Antonia Low, GENERAL PUBLIC, Berlin
2012 Kokon, Galerie für Gegenwartskunst Barbara Claassen-Schmal, Brema
Kunstfenster des BDI: Cape Coral , Kulturkreis der Deutschen Wirtschaft, Haus der Deutschen Wirtschaft, Berlino
2011 Patterns of Paradise (Cape coral), The Gallery Apart Roma
Patterns of Paradise (Cape coral), curate da A.-K. Strecker e S.Dorkenwald, kunstraum muenchen, Monaco
2009 Boese Gehoelze (Boschi malvagi), The Gallery Apart, Roma
It's always night, or we wouldn't need light (with Hansjörg Dobliar), Villa Merkel, Esslingen
Übersetzung ins Undeutliche, kjubh Kunstverein, Köln
2007 Grutas, Mummery + Schnelle, Londra
Getaway Inn, Galerie Olaf Stüber, Berlino
2006 Grutas, Fondazione Adriano Olivetti, Roma
Tryingtoland, Galerie für Gegenwartskunst Barbara Claassen Schmal, Bremen

GROUP EXHIBITION (selected after 2006)
2013 Follow Gardens - Astrid Nippoldt, Anja Kasten, Sabrina & Sandra Schieke, Kreuzberg Pavillon, Berlin
Pièces Montrees (The Impossible Collection), Fondation d'Art Contemporain Fernet-Branca, Saint-Louis
2012 ARTE Video Night 2012, PREVIEW 1, KW Institute for contemporary Art, Berlin, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, ARTE TV channel
International Triennal of Contemporary Graphic Arts Novosibirsk, Novosibirsk State Art Museum, Novosibirsk, Russia
Spazi aperti 10, a cura di E. Farina, Accademia di Romania, Roma
Marrakech Biennale 4 - Le Depays, video program, a cura di/curated by Nine Eglantine Yamamoto-Masson, sedi varie/various venues, Marrakech, Morocco
L'Institut des Archives Sauvages (The Primitive Archiving & Archivology Institute) - The archive of the Collective - JukeBox project (1996-2004), Contemporary Art Center Villa Arson, Nice/F
2011 Without Destination, Reykjavik Art Museum / Hafnarhus, poster project by the Institut für Raumexperimente Berlin
12 Jahre Junge Kunst in Essen, Museum Folkwang, Essen
Berliner Zimmer Genossen Funkhaus Berlino.
2010 Paula Modersohn-Becker Kunstpreis 2010, Kunsthalle Worpswede (cat)
Mediamorfosi 2.0. Act _01 | Contributi alle lingue dell’arterità. Between the images, experiences and contexts, Sudlab, Portici-Napoli, a cura di/curated by G. Perretta
VIDEO XXI Colleción Lemaitre, Centro Fundación Telefónica, Lima / Museo de Arte de Lima, Peru, curated by José Carlos Mariátegui
Juvenale - Junge Kunst 2010, Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germania
Mapping Worlds: Welten verstehen – Aufbruch in die Gegenwart, 8. Int. Foto-Triennale Esslingen
Let's implement little errors, Institut für Raumexperimente, Klasse Olafur Eliasson, Berlin
Simply Video. Bewegte Bilder aus der Kunsthalle Bremen, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
L'Art est un jeu. Tant pis pour celui qui s'en fait un devoir !, Frac Alsace, Sélestat
Über Zeichnung, Galerie Olaf Stüber, Berlin
2009 Altitude, Galerie für Gegenwartskunst Barbara Claassen-Schmal, Bremen
Wo soll ich hin – Figurative Works from the Collection, Städtische Galerie Bremen
Queue, kjubh Kunstverein e.V. Dasselstraße 75, Colonia
Zeigen. An Audio Tour through Berlin, by Karin Sander, Temporäre Kunsthalle, Berlino
2008 Friction and Conflict, Kalmar Art Museum, Sweden
CROSSROADS. Nomadic Knowledge & Art Strategies, Bishkek Art Center, Kirghizia
L'Art en Europe, Domaine Pommery, Reims (cat)
ars viva SOUND, Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius/LT (cat)
was schläft, Syker Vorwerk, Zentrum für zeitgenössiche Kunst (cat)
Beyond Stereotypes, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein
ars viva 07/08 SOUND, Kunstverein Hannover (cat)
Videoform Filmform, Stile der Stadt, Hamburg
2007 GEHEN BLEIBEN / GOING STAYING Movement, Body, Place in Contemporary Art, Kunstmuseum Bonn (cat)
ars viva 07/08 - SOUND, Museum Schloss Morsbroich, Leverkusen (cat)
VERWENDUNGSNACHWEIS –Jürgen Ponto Stiftung 2003-2006, Museum für Moderne Kunst (Zollamt), Frankfurt
Römische Perspektiven – Stipendiaten der Villa Massimo 2006, Altana Kulturstiftung, Sinclair Haus, Bad Homburg (cat)
As Time Goes By – 30 Jahre Bremer Förderpreis für Bildende Kunst, Städtische Galerie Bremen (cat)
Made in Germany, Kunstverein Hannover (cat)
Brave Lonesome Cowboy: Der Mythos des Westerns in der Gegenwartskunst, Villa Merkel, Esslingen & Kunstmuseum St. Gallen/CH (cat)
Kunstpreis der Böttcherstraße in Bremen 2007, Kunsthalle Bremen (cat)
1997-2007, Galerie für Gegenwartskunst Barbara Claassen-Schmal, Bremen