Artist's Talk
In this artist’s talk, Olaf Nicolai presented a small series of projects (by him and artists he admires) that bring into question common understandings of ’the poetical’. Considering the organisation of language in space beyond the page, he discussed the enduring influence of poetries from many traditions on his studio practice, anecdotally exploring the relationship between reading, thinking and making.
This keynote session was chaired by Dr Luke Skrebowski, who teaches the history and theory of late modern and contemporary art at the University of Manchester. He is co-author, with John Jacob, of Trevor Paglen: Sites Unseen (Smithsonian, 2018) and co-editor of Aesthetics and Contemporary Art (Sternberg Press, 2011). His work has appeared in journals including Amodern, Art History, Art Margins, Grey Room, Manifesta Journal, Tate Papers and Third Text, and he has written catalogue essays on conceptual art for exhibitions including the Tate’s ‘Conceptual Art in Britain: 1964-79’ (2016) and the Generali Foundation’s 25 year anniversary show ‘Amazing! Clever! Linguistic! An Adventure in Conceptual Art’ (2013).
Related Resources
Read
Fact or Fiction
Olaf Nicolai interviewed by Dorothea Schoene, discussing architecture, modernism and the importance of fiction in his work, published in Afterimage, summer 2012.
Read
Memorial in Vienna
Info about Olaf Nicolai's Memorial for the Victims of Nazi Military Justice in Ballhausplatz, Vienna, which turns concrete poetry into a large-scale public artwork.
Watch
8th Berlin Biennial
Olaf Nicolai discusses his commissioned work 'Szondi/Eden' for the 8th Berlin Bienniale in 2014.
Watch
Sensory Spaces
Olaf Nicolai discusses the background to his commissioned installation 'Probestück 1, 2 and 3’ at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.
Watch
There's No Place Before Arrival
Olaf Nicolai in conversation about his 2018 solo exhibition 'There's No Place Before Arrival' at Kunsthall Vienna, with curator Luca Lo Pinto.