John Heartfield and Silvio Berlusconi

2009 - Drawing & Print (Drawing & Print)
240 x 140 cm

Thomas Kilpper

year born: 1956

gender: male

nationality: German

These two images come from the series called “State of Control” which Kilpper made in the building formerly occupied by the Stasi in Berlin. As a symbol of the past there could be none more powerful than this. By carving into its floor, Kilpper laid bare its history by making images of its occupants and political figures associated with that period of history. Willy Brandt, Guenter Guillaume and Dietrich Sperling reminds us of all the intrigue of the Cold War when Brandt’s secretary Guillaume was passing secrets at the highest level to the East. Seen whispering in Brandt’s ear, he is perceived to be feeding false information. Sperling was a minister in Brandt’s government. The photograph on which the image is based was taken at the height of Guillaume’s treachery and treasonous conduct. The image of John Heartfield standing behind Silvio Berlusconi is based on a photomontage of Heartfield with the President of the Berlin Police Karl Zoergiebel of 1929 thus bringing together Heartfield, one of the greatest and most vivid critics of the Nazi era and manipulator of images through collage, with Berlusconi, one of the most rightwing, but freely elected leaders in Europe who manipulates the news and images through his media empire. These images are large scale and have a dramatic impact. In his use of woodcut, Kilpper’s work resonates with the large scale woodcuts of Christiane Baumgartner already in the collection.

Thomas Kilpper’s work engages with history and politics in a manner that recalls the 1960s in terms of his committed engagement. Typically Kilpper takes over a building and investigates its history, carving into the floor to make woodcuts which he then prints on a large scale onto fabric that floats free when he hangs it. In The Ring , a project he made in London in 2000, and of which the Tate bought a substantial part, he investigated the history of the area in which the building of the Tate was situated, making images connected with boxing (the site had previously housed a well known boxing ring), the Ministry of Defense (which had a secret printing press in the building) and Tate Modern (that was about to open around the corner). In Drowning Hercules he used bits of wood from Riddell House, a building about to be demolished to build an oversized tree which he located in the defunct swimming pool. Kilpper’s strategy is to work with buildings condemned for demolition and to use only materials he finds on site to make art. In that respect his work engages with the art of Gordon Matta-Clark but by inscribing himself into the building, rather than simply cutting it up, he puts forward a different point of view. He has no studio, is constantly on the move and starts each project from scratch. Research is a fundamental tool of his practice and the result is normally an artistic intervention into politics and history. Thus Kilpper combines a strong conceptual basis with considerable technical skill in making images that have dramatic impact and presence. Thomas Kilpper was born in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1956. He lives and works in Berlin.

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