Fact or Fiction: A Conversation with Olaf Nicolai

Abstract

As one of Germany's leading contemporary artists, Olaf Nicolai works conceptually and challenges classic forms of artistic representation. After studying German Literature and Philology in Leipzig (Germany), Budapest (Hungary), and Vienna (Austria), Nicolai completed his PhD on Die Wiener Gruppe (The Vienna Group) in 1992. He is the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes at the Studies Centre thr Art and Science in Venice (1993); the Villa Massimo Scholarship, Rome (1996); a MoMA P.S.1 Studio Program residency (1998), the IASPIS Grant, Stockholm (2000); the Art Award Wolfsburg (2002); the Residence at the Recollets (a grant of the city of Paris) (2007), and the Villa Aurora Fellowship, Los Angeles (2008). His works have been shown as part of documents X in Kassel, at MoMA in New York City, and at the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam. r.1 he artist lives and works in Berlin. In his work, Nicolai examines political dichotomies, dialectical relationships between cultural phenomena, modes ofperceptions, and subconscious factors that influence our state of mind and being. In the works discussed here, Nicolai focuses on the multiplicity of appearances and methods of recognition--both of individuals and of objects and landscapes. Drawn to analyzing what it is that defines our existence and individuality, the artist often uses symbolic gestures and creates spaces with metaphorical characters and elements. While art by nature represents a form of fiction, or aims to generate fiction, Nicolai attempts to trace fiction back to the moment it was generated and understand how it came about. He engages the ways in which people define and present themselves, reinforcing the contradictory moments and characters within each individual. In this conversation, classical definitions of mimesis are connoted with selected works, ranging from imitation, representation, mimicry, and receptivity, to acts of expression and self-presentation. This interview was conducted in person in Berlin in February 2012. DOROTHEA SCHOEHE: in your work, you repeatedly address the topic of fictionality, most obviously in your film Rodakis (2008). What is this work about and where does your interest lie? OLAF NICOLAI: Rodakis is a film I first did as an installation in 2007 after a few years of intense research. The leading role is a house--the house of the Greek architect Alexis Rodakis. I was told about Rodakis's house [in Messagros on Aegina Island] when I was at an exhibition of my work about the French architect Le Corbusier [in Athens]. The work was a 1:1 scale replica of the Frenchman's studio in Cap Martin, Southern France. Le Corbusier's impact on modernism is undeniable, as is his influence on the Charta of Athens of 1933, which dealt with questions and issues on modern urbanism and city planning and is well documented. During the course of this exhibition, I first heard about Rodakis and his importance to architectural history, and in particular, architectural modernism. Following his traces, however, turned out to be quite complicated. Despite all efforts by prominent successors in his field to raise awareness of Rodakis's accomplishments--for example, by Dimitri Pikionis [a Greek architect who lived 1887-1968], and even Le Corbusier knew about the house--little is known about him as a person. The archival sources on him are sparse and often contradictory, and it was much easier to find the actual house he built for himself than to find biographical information. I did research on this for a few years, with the aim of collecting a complete background on his career as an architect and the full story of the house. After two to three years I realized that this task was impossible to fulfill. There were too many contradictions. For example, while one source claimed to have met Rodakis at a certain age before World War I, another source mentioned him at the same age after the war. …