Astrid Nippoldt – Patterns of Paradise

La stagione 2011-2012 di The Gallery Apart apre con la seconda personale che la galleria dedica ad Astrid Nippoldt, artista di stanza a Berlino fra le più presenti della sua generazione negli spazi museali tedeschi. Per l’occasione, Astrid Nippoldt ha selezionato un estratto della importante personale che il Kunstraum di Monaco di Baviera le dedicherà nei mesi di ottobre e novembre, nella quale l’artista presenterà il ciclo Patterns of Paradise di cui la mostra romana costituisce un’anteprima.

Comunicato stampa

La stagione 2011-2012 di The Gallery Apart apre con la seconda personale che la galleria dedica ad Astrid Nippoldt,
artista di stanza a Berlino fra le più presenti della sua generazione negli spazi museali tedeschi. Per l'occasione, Astrid
Nippoldt ha selezionato un estratto della importante personale che il Kunstraum di Monaco di Baviera le dedicherà nei
mesi di ottobre e novembre, nella quale l'artista presenterà il ciclo Patterns of Paradise di cui la mostra romana
costituisce un'anteprima.
Il progetto, cui Astrid Nippoldt ha lavorato per mesi, ruota intorno alla storia di Cape Coral, città della Florida fondata
nel 1957 e sviluppatasi in pieno boom economico con il dichiarato intento di offrire alla middle class urbanizzata
americana un luogo dove esaudire ogni possibile ambizione in termini di qualità della vita. La popolazione di Cape
Coral andò così velocemente aumentando e migliaia di americani furono attratti da slogan come "È stata disegnata
soprattutto per persone con opportunità e mezzi modesti per vivere una bella vita al sole"; È' divertente vivere in
un'area che cresce"; "Dove le opportunità ti aspettano e il sogno di tutta la vita si avvera"; "Non devi essere miliardario
per vivere come se lo fossi". Lo sviluppo apparentemente inarrestabile di Cape Coral e il sogno che la città aveva
incarnato si spensero improvvisamente nel 2008, quando la crisi finanziaria originata proprio dal mercato delle
abitazioni diede il via ad un periodo di diffusi fallimenti, abbandono di case e forte decremento della popolazione
locale.
Da qui nasce la ricerca di Astrid Nippoldt, incentrata sul processo di nascita e caduta di un'utopia. L'artista non è
mossa da un intento di documentazione giornalistica, piuttosto da una riflessione sulle atmosfere, ambiguità e frizioni
interne ad un'utopia sistematizzata, così da portare alla luce i fallimenti che emergono dalla sfavillante superficie di un
paradiso.
Il progetto si sviluppa in più direzioni e con diverse modalità operative: la ricerca effettuata prima che l'artista si
recasse a Cape Coral, comprendente i fatti, le storie e ogni altro elemento di ispirazione; una pseudo
documentazione video sugli albori di Cape Coral mediante l'uso di immagini di repertorio in 8 e 16 mm; un video sotto
forma di una mappa animata di google vista dall'alto accompagnata da un audio in cui la voce malinconica di un
agente immobiliare ripete ossessivamente sempre le stesse descrizioni delle abitazioni in vendita; un video girato in uno
dei bungalow tipici di Cape Coral in cui un'automobile esce ed entra ripetutamente da un garage mentre il suo
conducente raccoglie ogni volta da terra un giornale prima della definitiva chiusura della porta, un'azione che
richiama la prospettiva di qualità della vita promessa e sottolinea nel contempo la stupidità delle aspettative e delle
illusioni generate; una serie di fotografie che approfondiscono il microcosmo delle ville stereotipate di Cape Coral,
svelandone le stratificazioni, oscillando tra il mostrare e il nascondere, tra la presenza e l'assenza; alcuni schizzi/disegni
contenenti pensieri e note dell'artista; infine, un video che coglie il momento in cui uno slip maschile galleggia in una
piscina.
SCHEDA INFORMATIVA:
MOSTRA: ASTRID NIPPOLDT - PATTERNS OF PARADISE
LUOGO: The Gallery Apart – Via di Monserrato, 40 – 00186 Roma
INAUGURAZIONE: 22 settembre 2011- ore 18,30
DURATA MOSTRA: 22 settembre – 19 novembre 2011
ORARI MOSTRA: dal martedì al sabato 16,00 - 20,00 e su appuntamento
INFORMAZIONI: The Gallery Apart – tel/fax 0668809863 – [email protected] – www.thegalleryapart.it
THE GALLERY APART
Via di Monserrato 40
00186 Roma
tel/fax: (+39) 06 68809863
[email protected]
www.thegalleryapart.it
ASTRID NIPPOLDT, born in 1973 in Gießen, she actually lives in Berlin, Germany
1997-2003 studies of Visual Arts, University of the Arts / Atelier of Time-based Media, Bremen
artist-in-residencies at PointB, Brooklyn/NY, Astérides Ateliers d’Artistes, Marseille and the Cité International des Arts, Paris
2002 Bremen Award for Fine Arts; Euregio Art Award, Bedburg-Hau; 5. Stipendium Junge Kunst in Essen
2004 Jürgen Ponto-Foundation Grant for Emerging Artists, Frankfurt and the Award of Loop Video Art Fair, Barcelona
2006 German Academy Villa Massimo, Rome
2007 ars viva SOUND, Award of the Cultural Committee of German Business within the Federation of German Industries
2010 Institut für Raumexperimente, class of Olafur Eliasson, Postgraduate Scholarship Program, University of the Arts, Berlin
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2011 Astrid Nippoldt. Patterns of Paradise, Kunstraum Muenchen
2009 Boese Gehoelze (Boschi malvagi), The Gallery Apart, Roma
Queue, kjubh Kunstverein, Köln
It's always night, or we wouldn't need light (with Hansjörg Dobliar), Villa Merkel, Esslingen
2007 Grutas, Mummery + Schnelle, London
Getaway Inn, Galerie Olaf Stüber, Berlin
2006 Grutas, Fondazione Adriano Olivetti, Roma
Tryingtoland, Galerie für Gegenwartskunst, Bremen
2005 Concorde, Paraplufabriek Nijmegen/NL
Astrid Nippoldt, Galerie Olaf Stüber, Berlin
2004 Universal Pictures, Galerie Olaf Stüber, Berlin
Bloop, Städtische Galerie, Bremen
Innocent, Centrum Beeldende Kunst Nijmege
2003 The Royal Stag, Centrum Beeldende Kunst Gelderland, Arnhem/NL
9 und Kurve, Kunsthaus Essen
Notre Dame, Förderverein Aktuelle Kunst, Münster
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2011 Berliner Zimmer Genossen, Funkhaus Berlin
Le Temps de l'Ecoute – The Collective JukeBox project (1996-2004), Contemporary Art Center Villa Arson, Nice/F
13 Jahre Junge Kunst in Essen, Museum Folkwang, Essen
Without Destination, Hafnarhus / Reykjavik Art Museum
2010 Paula Modersohn-Becker Kunstpreis 2010, Kunsthalle Worpswede
Mediamorfosi 2.0. Act _01, Sudiolab, Portici-Napoli
VIDEO XXI Colleción Lemaitre, Centro Fundación Telefónica, Lima / Museo de Arte de Lima, Peru,
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 Bremen
Zeigen. An Audio Tour through Berlin by Karin Sander, Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin
Vitales Archiv (a project by Sandra Kuhne), Kunsthalle Mannheim
Wo soll ich hin – Figurative Works from the Collection, Städtische Galerie Bremen
2008 Friction and Conflict, Kalmar Art Museum, Sweden
ars viva, Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius/LT, Kunstverein Hannover, Museum Schloss Morsbroich, Leverkusen
Beyond Stereotypes, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein
2007 GOING STAYING Movement, Body, Place in Contemporary Art, Kunstmuseum Bonn
VERWENDUNGSNACHWEIS, Museum für Moderne Kunst (Zollamt), Frankfurt
Made in Germany, Kunstverein Hannover
Brave Lonesome Cowboy, Villa Merkel, Esslingen and Kunstmuseum St. Gallen/CH
Kunstpreis der Böttcherstraße in Bremen 2007, Kunsthalle Bremen
2006 Vom Pferd erzählen, Kunsthalle Göppingen
Unmodern Observations, Southfirst, Brooklyn/NY
Resolution/Dissolution: Signal Noise, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin
2005 Baltic Drift (Do you mind?), 5th Int. Video Art Festival, Riga/LV, Akademija Gallery, Vilnius/LT
SELECTED SCREENINGS
2011 Tracing Shadows in the Dark, curated by Carmen Billows, Holy Trinity Church, London
2010 Art, Talks and Sensations, Abu Dhabi Art Fair, United Arabian Emirates, curated by Fabrice Bousteau
2009 Heroic Turn, Zeithaus, Autostadt Wolfsburg
2008 Fixieren Sie den Stern, bitte!, Kusthalle Luzern
Expand and Retain (Fog on Nov 2), Senko Frame Project, Viborg/DK
Der Blinde Fleck, NGBK - Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin
Brillant Noise / Late at Tate Britain, London
Verkehrte Welt -, Bayrisches Haus, Odessa/Ukraine
Am dritten Ort, Dortmund
2007 wetterfest° – Eis und Schnee, Internationales Wetterfilmfest, Frankfurt
2006 Collection Isabelle & Jean-Conrad Lemaître, Special Collectors Program, ShowOff Contemporary Art Fair, Paris
New Narratives/Strangely Familiar Centre Culturel de Suisse, Paris
VIPER International Festival for Film Video and New Media, Basel
2005 Bewegte Tierwelt, Video Folkwang, Essen
X_periment>L Nr.8, Arminius Kerk, Rotterdam

The 2011-2012 season at The Gallery Apart opens with the second solo show that the gallery has dedicated to Astrid Nippoldt, an
artist from Berlin who is among the most present of her generation in German museums. For this occasion, Astrid Nippoldt will offer a
preview of her series “Patterns of Paradise” which will be hosted in its entirety in an important solo show at the Kunstraum of Munich
during the months of October and November.
The project, which Astrid Nippoldt has worked on for months, focuses on the story of Cape Coral, a city in Florida founded in 1957
and developed through an economic boom initiated by the explicit intent of offering the American urban middle class a place to
realize every possible ambition in terms of quality of life. The population of Cape Coral grew very quickly and millions of Americans
were attracted by slogans such as "It has been designed especially for people with modest means and opportunities to live a good
life in the sunshine"; "It's fun to live in a growth area”; "Where opportunity awaits you and dreams of a lifetime come true"; and "You
don't have to be a millionaire to live like one". The apparently unstoppable development of Cape Coral and the dream that the city
had represented suddenly disappeared in 2008 when the financial crisis, started by the housing market, gave way to a period of
widespread decline, an abandonment of houses and a major drop in the local population.
This is the point where Astrid Nippoldt’s research begins, concentrating on the process of the rise and fall of a utopia. The artist’s
intention is not to create a journalistic documentation, but rather a reflection of the atmospheres, ambiguities and internal frictions
within a systemized utopia. In this way she brings to light the failures that emerge from the shiny surface of a paradise.
The project is laid out in several outlets and with different working methodologies: the research carried out before the artist visited
Cape Coral made up of facts, stories and other elements of inspiration; a pseudo documentation video on the early years of Cape
Coral edited from historical 8 and 16mm footage; an animated video using Googlemaps showing a flight over Cape Coral in which
one hears the melancholic voice of a real estate agent obsessively repeating the descriptions of the houses and neighborhood; a
video, shot at a typical bungalow of Cape Coral showing a car exiting and entering the garage repeatedly so the driver can
retrieve the newspaper, recalls the prospects of the promised quality of life while highlighting the stupidity of the expectations of the
all too convenient life; a series of photographs which dives into the microcosm of the stereotypical villas of Cape Coral, revealing
their different layers and oscillating between what is displayed and what is veiled, between what is present and what is absent;
sketches and drawings depicting the thoughts and notes of the artist; and a video capturing the moment of a man's slip floating in a
swimming pool.
EXHIBITION: ASTRID NIPPOLDT - PATTERNS OF PARADISE
ADDRESS: The Gallery Apart – Via di Monserrato, 40 – 00186 Roma
OPENING: September 22, 2011 - 6,30 pm
DURATION OF EXHIBITION: September 22 – November 19, 2011
HOURS: Tue-Sat 4 -8 pm & by appointment
GALLERY INFORMATION: The Gallery Apart – tel/fax 0668809863 – [email protected] – www.thegalleryapart.it
THE GALLERY APART
Via di Monserrato 40
00186 Roma
tel/fax: (+39) 06 68809863
[email protected]
www.thegalleryapart.it
ASTRID NIPPOLDT, born in 1973 in Gießen, she actually lives in Berlin, Germany
1997-2003 studies of Visual Arts, University of the Arts / Atelier of Time-based Media, Bremen
artist-in-residencies at PointB, Brooklyn/NY, Astérides Ateliers d’Artistes, Marseille and the Cité International des Arts, Paris
2002 Bremen Award for Fine Arts; Euregio Art Award, Bedburg-Hau; 5. Stipendium Junge Kunst in Essen
2004 Jürgen Ponto-Foundation Grant for Emerging Artists, Frankfurt and the Award of Loop Video Art Fair, Barcelona
2006 German Academy Villa Massimo, Rome
2007 ars viva SOUND, Award of the Cultural Committee of German Business within the Federation of German Industries
2010 Institut für Raumexperimente, class of Olafur Eliasson, Postgraduate Scholarship Program, University of the Arts, Berlin
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2011 Astrid Nippoldt. Patterns of Paradise, Kunstraum Muenchen
2009 Boese Gehoelze (Boschi malvagi), The Gallery Apart, Roma
Queue, kjubh Kunstverein, Köln
It's always night, or we wouldn't need light (with Hansjörg Dobliar), Villa Merkel, Esslingen
2007 Grutas, Mummery + Schnelle, London
Getaway Inn, Galerie Olaf Stüber, Berlin
2006 Grutas, Fondazione Adriano Olivetti, Roma
Tryingtoland, Galerie für Gegenwartskunst, Bremen
2005 Concorde, Paraplufabriek Nijmegen/NL
Astrid Nippoldt, Galerie Olaf Stüber, Berlin
2004 Universal Pictures, Galerie Olaf Stüber, Berlin
Bloop, Städtische Galerie, Bremen
Innocent, Centrum Beeldende Kunst Nijmege
2003 The Royal Stag, Centrum Beeldende Kunst Gelderland, Arnhem/NL
9 und Kurve, Kunsthaus Essen
Notre Dame, Förderverein Aktuelle Kunst, Münster
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2011 Berliner Zimmer Genossen, Funkhaus Berlin
Le Temps de l'Ecoute – The Collective JukeBox project (1996-2004), Contemporary Art Center Villa Arson, Nice/F
13 Jahre Junge Kunst in Essen, Museum Folkwang, Essen
Without Destination, Hafnarhus / Reykjavik Art Museum
2010 Paula Modersohn-Becker Kunstpreis 2010, Kunsthalle Worpswede
Mediamorfosi 2.0. Act _01, Sudiolab, Portici-Napoli
VIDEO XXI Colleción Lemaitre, Centro Fundación Telefónica, Lima / Museo de Arte de Lima, Peru,
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 Bremen
Zeigen. An Audio Tour through Berlin by Karin Sander, Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin
Vitales Archiv (a project by Sandra Kuhne), Kunsthalle Mannheim
Wo soll ich hin – Figurative Works from the Collection, Städtische Galerie Bremen
2008 Friction and Conflict, Kalmar Art Museum, Sweden
ars viva, Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius/LT, Kunstverein Hannover, Museum Schloss Morsbroich, Leverkusen
Beyond Stereotypes, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein
2007 GOING STAYING Movement, Body, Place in Contemporary Art, Kunstmuseum Bonn
VERWENDUNGSNACHWEIS, Museum für Moderne Kunst (Zollamt), Frankfurt
Made in Germany, Kunstverein Hannover
Brave Lonesome Cowboy, Villa Merkel, Esslingen and Kunstmuseum St. Gallen/CH
Kunstpreis der Böttcherstraße in Bremen 2007, Kunsthalle Bremen
2006 Vom Pferd erzählen, Kunsthalle Göppingen
Unmodern Observations, Southfirst, Brooklyn/NY
Resolution/Dissolution: Signal Noise, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin
2005 Baltic Drift (Do you mind?), 5th Int. Video Art Festival, Riga/LV, Akademija Gallery, Vilnius/LT
SELECTED SCREENINGS
2011 Tracing Shadows in the Dark, curated by Carmen Billows, Holy Trinity Church, London
2010 Art, Talks and Sensations, Abu Dhabi Art Fair, United Arabian Emirates, curated by Fabrice Bousteau
2009 Heroic Turn, Zeithaus, Autostadt Wolfsburg
2008 Fixieren Sie den Stern, bitte!, Kusthalle Luzern
Expand and Retain (Fog on Nov 2), Senko Frame Project, Viborg/DK
Der Blinde Fleck, NGBK - Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin
Brillant Noise / Late at Tate Britain, London
Verkehrte Welt -, Bayrisches Haus, Odessa/Ukraine
Am dritten Ort, Dortmund
2007 wetterfest° – Eis und Schnee, Internationales Wetterfilmfest, Frankfurt
2006 Collection Isabelle & Jean-Conrad Lemaître, Special Collectors Program, ShowOff Contemporary Art Fair, Paris
New Narratives/Strangely Familiar Centre Culturel de Suisse, Paris
VIPER International Festival for Film Video and New Media, Basel
2005 Bewegte Tierwelt, Video Folkwang, Essen
X_periment>L Nr.8, Arminius Kerk, Rotterdam