Christian Niccoli
24 Oct - 09 Nov 2008
CHRISTIAN NICCOLI
“An steilen Hängen Laufen lernen”
24th October – 9th November 2008, Studio 2
Opening: Thursday 23rd October 2008, as from 7 pm
CHRISTIAN NICCOLI’s artistic work examines specific situations and patterns of behaviour within different social groups, focusing on the interaction between individuals. Niccoli works with photography and video, but does not employ these media in a documentary way; he always stages his themes with great precision, employing professional actors. Christian Niccoli’s films do not copy reality, therefore, but represent it in an abstract and metaphorical fashion.
Repeatedly, the artist concerns himself with the situation of ‘encounter’ in our post-modern society and the resulting small or big problems in human relations. In the video projection The Gaze, for example, he shows people whose paths cross on a moving staircase, people who exchange glances, stare at one another, flirt, or quickly look away. Niccoli arranges the soundtrack as a contradiction to the scene depicted: the exact words of a lonely hearts ad underlay the image of a couple flirting via eye contact, by which means Niccoli confronts and compares different aggregate states of ‘flirting’ or ‘falling in love’.
An steilen Hängen Laufen lernen (Learning to Walk on Steep Slopes) in Künstlerhaus Bethanien is a multi-channel version of his previously shown 16mm film Planschen (Splashing Around, 2007/08). Six videos, which are projected onto single wooden cubes distributed around the exhibition space, show six people who – fully dressed, as if following a shipwreck, for example – are swimming around aimlessly and helplessly, wearing a swim ring. No real interaction between the protagonists occurs over the course of the 2-minute projection; they only look around at the others with apparent mockery or envy. Metaphorically, the film aims to describe the ‘floating state’ experienced by people who are strangers in a city, having just moved there: completely without ties and security (family, job) they simply let themselves drift in their new surroundings – Berlin, in this case.
As always in Christian Niccoli’s oeuvre, the idea for a new work is triggered by an autobiographical situation. Thus Niccoli’s films, which often demonstrate an absurd aspect, are both clear- sighted self-analysis and a critical observation of our society.
CHRISTIAN NICCOLI *1976 in Bolzano/South Tyrol, Italy, lives and works in Berlin. He studied at the art academies in Florence, Milan and Vienna. Exhibitions incl.: Escalating perception, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin 2006; Kunstraum Innsbruck and Kunsthaus Meran, 2006; Videoart yearbook 2008, Galleria Civica d’Arte Contemporanea, Trento (I) in the context of Manifesta7, 2008; K u n s t - invasion, Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin, 2008; Tra- Monti, AR/GE Kunst - Galerie Museum, Bolzano (I) in the context of Manifesta7, 2008; Hamburg Festival of Short Films, Filmpalais Hamburg 2008; V7– Venice Videoart Fair, Venice 2007. Christian Niccoli is currently a guest at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, participating in our International Studio Programme.
“An steilen Hängen Laufen lernen”
24th October – 9th November 2008, Studio 2
Opening: Thursday 23rd October 2008, as from 7 pm
CHRISTIAN NICCOLI’s artistic work examines specific situations and patterns of behaviour within different social groups, focusing on the interaction between individuals. Niccoli works with photography and video, but does not employ these media in a documentary way; he always stages his themes with great precision, employing professional actors. Christian Niccoli’s films do not copy reality, therefore, but represent it in an abstract and metaphorical fashion.
Repeatedly, the artist concerns himself with the situation of ‘encounter’ in our post-modern society and the resulting small or big problems in human relations. In the video projection The Gaze, for example, he shows people whose paths cross on a moving staircase, people who exchange glances, stare at one another, flirt, or quickly look away. Niccoli arranges the soundtrack as a contradiction to the scene depicted: the exact words of a lonely hearts ad underlay the image of a couple flirting via eye contact, by which means Niccoli confronts and compares different aggregate states of ‘flirting’ or ‘falling in love’.
An steilen Hängen Laufen lernen (Learning to Walk on Steep Slopes) in Künstlerhaus Bethanien is a multi-channel version of his previously shown 16mm film Planschen (Splashing Around, 2007/08). Six videos, which are projected onto single wooden cubes distributed around the exhibition space, show six people who – fully dressed, as if following a shipwreck, for example – are swimming around aimlessly and helplessly, wearing a swim ring. No real interaction between the protagonists occurs over the course of the 2-minute projection; they only look around at the others with apparent mockery or envy. Metaphorically, the film aims to describe the ‘floating state’ experienced by people who are strangers in a city, having just moved there: completely without ties and security (family, job) they simply let themselves drift in their new surroundings – Berlin, in this case.
As always in Christian Niccoli’s oeuvre, the idea for a new work is triggered by an autobiographical situation. Thus Niccoli’s films, which often demonstrate an absurd aspect, are both clear- sighted self-analysis and a critical observation of our society.
CHRISTIAN NICCOLI *1976 in Bolzano/South Tyrol, Italy, lives and works in Berlin. He studied at the art academies in Florence, Milan and Vienna. Exhibitions incl.: Escalating perception, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin 2006; Kunstraum Innsbruck and Kunsthaus Meran, 2006; Videoart yearbook 2008, Galleria Civica d’Arte Contemporanea, Trento (I) in the context of Manifesta7, 2008; K u n s t - invasion, Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin, 2008; Tra- Monti, AR/GE Kunst - Galerie Museum, Bolzano (I) in the context of Manifesta7, 2008; Hamburg Festival of Short Films, Filmpalais Hamburg 2008; V7– Venice Videoart Fair, Venice 2007. Christian Niccoli is currently a guest at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, participating in our International Studio Programme.