The Staedelschule has appointed Carsten Nicolai as a new guest professor. During the winter semester 2012/13, artist and musician Carsten Nicolai and his students will investigate the musical and physical-tactile conditions of sound in the lab at Staedelschule. The seminar will develop new insights in production processes and sites such as the sound studio, mastering, film, and sound design. The results of the Studio fuer Ton und Nichtton will be shown in an exhibition at the MMK Museum fuer Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt (opening 25 January 2013). Nicolai will also develop a new performance in cooperation with Ensemble Modern percussionist Rainer Roemer that will be premiered on 27 January, 2013 at the Portikus.

Carsten Nicolai, born 1965 in Karl-Marx-Stadt, is a visual artist, composer and musician who lives and works in Berlin and Chemnitz. As a visual artist mainly creating objects and installations, Nicolai seeks to overcome the separation of the art forms and genres to sensitize human perception to the interconnection of the different sensory levels. His works have been shown at major exhibitions such as documenta X and the 49th and 50th Venice Biennales, and the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin.

For several years now, Nicolai has released albums under the pseudonyms "noto" and "alva noto", which he has presented at live shows in concert halls, clubs and museums such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Centre Pompidou in Paris, Kunsthaus Graz and the Tate Modern in London. He has cooperated with composers and musicians including Ryuichi Sakamoto, Blixa Bargeld, Ryoji Ikeda, Michael Nyman, as well as with diverse orchestras for modern music, such as Ensemble Modern, BCN 216 and zeitkratzer.

Carsten Nicolai's new project will accompany a series of other prolific Staedelschule events during the coming winter semester:

The graduate exhibition Zauderberg at the MMK Zollamt, with Florian Auer, Logi Bjarnason, Helen Demisch, Othmar Farré, Samuel Forsythe, Timothy Furey, Edgars Gluhovs, Eloise Hawser, Lars TCF Holdhus, Anne Imhof, Veit Laurent Kurz, Hannes Michanek, Aki Nagasaka, Helena Schlichting, Charlotte Simon, John Skoog, Stewart Uoo, Phillip Zach from the classes of Douglas Gordon, Judith Hopf, Michael Krebber, Christa Naeher, Tobias Rehberger, Willem de Rooij, and Simon Starling.
Opens 17 October at 7pm; duration 18 October to 11 November.

Georges Didi-Huberman L'image "vivante" selon Barthes : l'aimable et le funèbre, Institut für Kunstkritik with Isabelle Graw and Nikolaus Hirsch, 9 November at 7pm.

Hamlet, mis-en-scène/performance by Staedelschule's Pure Fiction Seminar imagining being trained in Reptilian Acting Technique. Developed by Mark von Schlegell in the frame of Extra Trouble – Jack Smith in Frankfurt, 7pm on 11/12 December 2012 at Portikus.

The lecture series in winter semester 2012/13 includes Lutz Bacher, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Daniel Birnbaum, David Cunningham, Latifa Echakch, Charles Esche, Cerith Wyn Evans, Omer Fast, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Katharina Fritsch, Gelitin, Julian Heynen, Christian Hoeller, Carsten Hoeller, Georges Didi-Huberman, Jonas Mekas, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Thomas Scheibitz, Mark von Schlegell, Andreas Slominski, Beate Soentgen, Michael Stevenson, Jerry Tartaglia, Wolfgang Tillmans.

Rundgang / Open Studios from 8 to 10 February 2013


Director: Nikolaus Hirsch
Artistic Coordinator: Jonas Leihener

In cooperation with MMK Museum fuer Moderne Kunst
Supported by Frankfurter Positionen / BHF-Bank Stiftung