Prague Biennale 5: “The necessity of abstraction”

Christine Nippe is the curator of the section The Necessity of Abstraction at the 5th edition of the Prague Biennale. This section presents the works of artist from Germany.

Present yourself in three sentences.

My name is Christine Nippe. I am a curator and writer based in Berlin. I was born 1976 in Bremerhaven and I am the new artistic director of the Kunsthalle Koidl. After studying art and cultural history as well as aesthetics at the Humbold Universität Berlin, I worked at the 5th Berlin biennale, for the Temporäre Kunsthalle and the Kölnische Kunstverein. Besides my dissertation “Art is building the city. Artists and their metropolitan images in Berlin and New York” I curated exhibitions in Berlin, Edinburgh and Cologne. I set a high value on acting as an agent between the viewers of an exhibition, the artists and their context.

Present the works that you curate at the Prague Biennale.

I am presenting works of seven artists who live and work in Berlin. All of them are working with abstract painting. While Friederike Feldmann is developing a new wall painting by using a graffiti-technique, Arturo Herrera is showing two of his collages where he combines abstract painting with found objects. Anne Neukamp is showing one of her newest paintings where she intertwines abstract forms with found forms from stickers, while Renaud Regnery is playing with the ornament as mass phenomena of decoration. Frank Nitsche is showing one of his multilayered abstract paintings, while Olaf Holzapfel is showing one of his space inspired paintings and Gregor Hildebrandt is creating black monochromes with the help of old cassette tapes.

Can you explain the main theme?

As the title says the exhibition deals with the necessity of abstraction. There is a long tradition of abstract painting but artists are still working on new ways of defining abstract painting and I found it really interesting to ask them about their new statements and thoughts about it.

Do you think that one has to understand art to appreciate a work of art?

No, I think if you let your imagination work while looking at art there can be many associations and ideas which you might have as an individual.

Where did you last curate exhibitions and where will you have the next one?

My last curated exhibitions was a big show on performances in public space at the Kölnischer Kunstverein, the solo exhibition of the Turkish artist Ebru Özscen at Tanas in Berlin and now the exhibition “Artist curators: Mona Hatoum, Arturo Herrera and Karin Sander”, an exhibition which shows the collected art by artists – a topic which have not been shown very often.

Do you think that contemporary art asks questions or gives answers?

I think that contemporary art asks questions not so many answers.

What do you expect from the Prague Biennale?

It is be a great possibility to meet other international curators and artists and to enjoy a biennale which is curated and developed by many people.

What do you “against the gray”?

I am choosing strong positions of new abstract art!