09.08.2018
Three institutions – the Kunsthalle in Vienna and the German Bielefeld and the Swiss Art Museum in St. Gallen – joined together to fully illustrate the practices of Olaf Nicolai (born in 1962), with whom he has been passionate for the past 20 years.
A philologist by education, a graduate of Leipzig University, he has been engaged in visual arts at the junction of different disciplines and practices since the early 1990s. Nicolai believes that “art is a way to perceive the world with the help of aesthetic feelings, rather than a well-adjusted methodology for the production of high-value objects.” Therefore, the artist is so fond of in Kassel and Venice and calmly treat him in large and important galleries. For Documenta 14 Nikolay created an audio film “There is a bird in the forest …”, referring to the line of the French poet Arthur Rimbaud “There is a bird in the forest, whose singing stops you and makes you blush …”. Nicolai used the records of the rumble of protest demonstrations and rallies from around the world as a basis for creating sound objects and music. In the summer of 2017 “There is a bird in the forest …” was broadcast on the radio of the Documenta exhibition, a vinyl disc with a map and a calendar of events mentioned in the project was released. In 2007, Nicolai created the installation “Considering the multiplicity of manifestations in the light of certain aspects of relevance. Or can art be specific? “. It has 16 color large-format prints for walls and 400 books. When they were made, Olaf randomly handed in the paint, one after another, to the printing press. Prints are the first two and the last two prints of the series. Everything else went to 64-page books.
Kunsthalle
Olaf Nicolai. There is no place until arrival
13 July-7 October
www.kunsthallewien.at