Julian Rosefeldt

Exploiting overtly theatrical figures as nonsensical agents of the human condition, all of Rosefeldt’s works are elaborate mises-en-scéne acting out the uncertain connection between the deliberate absurdity of the situations staged and the apathy of the events unfolding. The architect-trained Berlin-based artist is known for his epic multi-channel film installations, in particular three major works (Stunned Man, The Soundmaker, The Perfectionist) that come under the title Trilogy of Failure (2004-06). Together with his previous monumental 9-channel film installation Asylum (2001), these major film installations analyse every-day stereotyped activities by means of surreal de- and reconstructions and compulsive behaviour, turning the familiarity of normal undertakings into unexpected absurdity. These works represent three versions of social reality that shift viewers’ attention to the existential, involving them not as observers of a social condition but as spectators of circumstances that relate much more directly to our own personal experience. These works express Rosefeldt’s interest in the organization of everyday life and a set of meaningless activities associated with it. Playing with hyperbolic moments where facts combine with impossibility, reality turns into comedy. In a Beckettian manner, only Rosefeldt’s characters can understand what is taking place: their clumsy actions question the rituals of life and their meaning or meaninglessness. In a similar vein, the humour of his most recent film installations – Clown (2005) and Lonely Planet (2006) - is represented by figures struggling to find balance and hence a sense in life.

Rosefeldt (b. 1965, Munich) lives and works in Berlin. This year’s solo projects include shows at DA2 in Salamanca (Spain), the Berlinische Galerie (Berlin) and Arndt and Partner (coinciding with the Berlin Gallery Weekend, 2-4 May). Last year’s projects included a new film commissioned by the Canary Islands Biennial and a solo show at Kunstmuseum Bonn (Germany). In 2008 Rosefeldt had solo shows at Helga de Alvear (Madrid), Phillips de Pury (New York), Max Wigram Gallery and Arndt & Partner Project Space (Berlin). Group shows in 2008 included Molten States at The Royal Academy (London), Laughing in a Foreign Language at The Hayward Gallery (London) and The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality, and the Moving Image at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Washington DC). Since 1998 he has participated in major exhibitions including the Athens Biennial (2007, Greece); Made in Germany at Sprengel Museum Hannover and Drei Farben – Weiss XIV. Rohkunstbau, Groß Leuthen (2007, both Germany). Printemps de Septembre (2006, Toulouse); Sonambiente (2006) at Akademie der Kuenste (Berlin); Dark Places (2006) at Santa Monica Museum of Art (US), the 2005 Prague Biennial and the 2004 São Paolo Biennale. Solo exhibitions include Chapter Gallery (2006, Cardiff); BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art (2004, Gateshead) and Kunst-Werke (Berlin, 2004) and Hamburger Bahnhof (Berlin, 2002).

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