Linus Riepler
In Linus Riepler’s exhibition, home appears as a highly unstable place.Among other things, the artist produced a stop-motion animation in which the apartment of a tousled clay character literally transforms into a carousel. In the two-minute clip, part of a larger spatial installation, everyday items such as a blanket, espresso maker, scooter, or cantilever chair gradually develop a life of their own. The household items eventually condense temporarily into a rotating tangle, briefly forming the protagonist’s head into the shape of a stone block. A modern nightmare.Faced with the continual entropy of things to be tamed, the strive of everyday repetitions becomes an image. “A face that toils so close to stones is already stone itself!” Albert Camus once wrote about the ancient mythic figure Sisyphus. During production, the artist read Camus’ essay on the “absurd hero” of ancient mythology, alongside Kafka’s “The Castle”, which became part of the material. The installation translates the video narrative into a real, walkable space. The carousel cuts into the architecture, its seats referencing the tangle of household goods. The corridor alludes to Kafka’s castle and simultaneously to an experienced consumerist labyrinth of an underground shopping street. A telephone receiver inside the work finally acoustically connects the viewers to the world of Sisyphus through Homer’s epic.
Riepler himself names the “intricacy of space, its perception, and the question of how a narrative can be inscribed into a spatial setting” as the central focus of his artistic work. Because the art of storytelling has already produced a rich media history, references to film, theatre, theatre architecture, and various forms of display (such as showcases or dioramas in small vitrines) resonate more or less distinctly in Riepler’s art. The spaces function both as a frame and as part of the artist’s narratives. Riepler makes his working process comprehensible, for instance, when presenting an automat sculpture in the exhibition space, which is both an independent work and a reference for the larger installation. Elements of the environment, stage, set, and model converge into a place of artistic experience for the audience. This highlights the manifold encoded nature of architecture and its increasing hybridisation in a casual manner.
(exhibition text by Kito Nedo, 2024)
mixed media,
310 x 124 x 200cm
This work was developed during an artist in residence project in Tbilisi for the exhibition „a place to live. Reimagining Tbilisi “ curated by Tina Natsvlishvili (interact projects) presented at CCA Tbilisi
„A tale of transformation“ is conceptually based on the history of former Hotel lveria in Tbilisi, with all its architectural and functional changes over time. As a prestigious hotel in Soviet Georgia accessible only to high-ranking officials, Iveria radically changed its function and appearance in the 90s when it became a shelter for war refugees from Apkhasia. The political, ideological and social changes of the country are strongly reflected in the changing architectural history of Iveria. The stop motion video inside the room shows all its reincarnations. Major influence for this installation is the theoretic work of Irina Kurtishvili.
all photos: Sandro Sulaberidze
everything is happening at once, 2021
Memory of a Bench (2021)
teatoru-san, 2022
this work was developed during the KUMANONISUMU artist in residence project in Kumano, Japan in 2022 more info: https://www.interact-projects.net/
untitled (the big ending), 2022
moms, 2022
der Sessel, 2021 (the chair)
mixed media 125 x 100 x 100 cm
Noch immer Warten auf bessere Aussichten (2021)
„noch immer warten auf bessere Aussichten“ entstand 2020/2021 und zeigt einen Ausschnitt der Wohnung des Künstlers, aus der er nach zehn Jahren auszog: Das Fenster ist ein Zitat der Fensternische, der Heizkörper ein Abguss des Originals und die weiße eine maßstabsgetreue Rekonstruktion. Entstanden während der Lockdown-Phasen, thematisiert die Installation nicht nur den Abschied aus der Wohnung, sondern auch ein „Gefühl der Isolation und der Beschäftigung mit den eigenen vier Wänden“ (Riepler). Einprägsam ist die fragmentarische, skizzenhafte Beschaffenheit der Skulptur. So geht es nicht um eine getreue Rekonstruktion, sondern vielmehr um das Erzeugen einer Stimmung, in der sich auch die vergangene Lebensrealität spiegelt. Gleichzeitig hat die Arbeit etwas Bühnenhaftes und schafft eine Kulisse für die eigene Geschichte der Betrachter*in. „Sie erzeugt eine Spannung. Da das vergangene Jahr so wenig Möglichkeiten gelassen hat, Eindrücke zu sammeln und etwas Neues zu erleben, etwas anderes als die eigenen vier Wände, hat es uns auch daran erinnert, was es im wörtlichen und übertragenen Sinne bedeutet, ,drinnen zu sein‘. Und es ist eine Einladung, die Situation selbst zu durchdenken“, hält Riepler fest. Der abgestorbene Baum ist eine Referenz an den Baum, der sich vor dem ehemaligen Wohnzimmerfenster des Künstlers befand, wie auch ein kunstgeschichtliches Zitat aus dem Mythos von Apollo und Daphne. (Text: Silvie Aigner)
25 places in one, 2019
ruins of a house (a chronology of events), 2017-2018
a small analog holodeck, 2017
Sperrstunde, 2017 (closing time)
Beinbruch, 2017
Aussichten und Einsichten, 2016
Endlageschalter, 2010
Atelier Dreyhausenstraße (kurz vor dem Auszug), 2016
Cuddle the Mama, 2016
Orte, Objekte, Geschichten, 2015
Bühnenbild Festspiele Stockerau, 2015
„Don Camillo und Peppone“
Herr Kopfweh und der Mond, 2015
Herr Kopfweh und der Mond im Sightfenster, Galerie Warhus Rittershaus, Köln Mr Headache and the moon at sightfenster, gallery Warhus Rittershaus, Cologne
Durchtauchen , 2014
Panoptikum, 2014
My neighbour is my clock, 2011
Warten auf bessere Aussichten, 2011 / 2012
waiting for better weather
mixed media size of the house: 210 x 137 x 202 cm