Thomas Kilpper
colder than ice
The difficult work of encapsulate a reality seems to be a very easy task for some artists. Thomas Kilpper is one of these artists. In a period of three months he produced a huge (300 qm) woodcut called don't look back using an indoor basketball court floor as platform. This basketball court is located in the former US military base Camp King in Oberursel, Germany.
This specific site chosen for the execution of
this work includes some important
historic facts:
during the Second World War it was the
interrogation center of the Third Reich Luftwaffe ( DULAG Luft ).
Which kept allies pilots prisoners as well. After the war the
same site was used by the American Military Force to interrogate
several important Nazi generals, scientists and politicians.
Subsequent the operation paperclip was executed.
One purpose of the operation paperclip was to
use the Nazi military organization 'Fremde Heere Ost' (National
Socialist foreigner secret service, till 1945) as a partner by the
CIA on the restabilization of the German Republic, after the
war.
But also was the opportunity to generate brain
power for important american projects like the Apollo 11 and
others.
The artist made researches in the archives of
the city of Oberusel to be able to study these
historical events and produce the work.
The different sizes prints that came out of this work where displayed above the woodcut in the wall all around the court and one print made from the entire work even was displayed in the Oberusel City Hall facade.
The reality which Kilpper encapsulated was a very
personal, social and political one. It was not only the
artists confrontation with his own past, shown in this woodcut,
but of a entire nation, in this case, Germany.
As a son of an officer in the National Socialist Army
and himself being a militant at a left wing resistant
group, Kilpper converted these two very strong experiences into a
third one, where past and present are confronted; form and content,
seriousness and humor meet each other.
These confrontations and his strong will
to produce this artwork led the artist into making a stunning
oeuvre which retains Kilppers art praxis and shows how art can really
intervene in a mental-social reality.
Copyright©1998 Thomas Kilpper
The installation colder than ice which will be presented in the space of the former GOOP-Galerie, in Frankfurt on Main will show prints made from the work don´t look back and a video, showing some parts of the related work. The video will be shown incidentally at the window of the space during the whole period of the exhibition.
Thomas Kilpper is a Frankfurt based artist which just finished his BA in arts in the Staedel Art Institut.
curated by Saul Judd
read in german original Martin Pesch on Thomas Kilpper´s
don´t look back
Zur Eroeffnung am Dienstag,
15. 12. 98, um
19.30 Uhr
sind Sie und Ihre Freunde herzlich eingeladen.
Ausstellung 16. 12. bis 31. 12.
1998
Ausstellungsraum (ehemals GOOP-Galerie)
Oppenheimerstr. 34a
60594 Frankfurt / M
geoeffnet Mittwochs und Samstags
16°° - 19°° Uhr
und nach telefonischer Vereinbarung
069 - 23 55 37 bzw. 54 85 618