Julika Rudelius
Soft Intrusion
21 March – 25 April 2010
Opening: March 20, 7 p.m., with an artist talk between
Julika Rudelius and Nicolaus Schafhausen
Ursula Blickle Foundation
Mühlweg 18, D-76703 Kraichtal-UÖ
Germany
Phone +49 7251 60919
Fax +49 7251 68687
www.ursula-blickle-stiftung.de
Julika Rudelius (b. 1968, Cologne) addresses a broad field of complex themes in her videos and photographs, ranging from structures of social power and prejudices to role clichés, identity, and cultural hegemony. Rudelius sees art as a form of social expression, as a communicative tool for drawing attention to seemingly trivial observations of everyday life, revealing at the same time their complex social characteristics.This exhibition at the Ursula Blickle Foundation is the first comprehensive survey in Germany of works by the artist, who lives in Amsterdam and New York. Accompanied by a catalog, the exhibition will bring together diverse works in a context of social criticism.
Julika Rudelius will present her latest video “Dressage” (2009) at the Ursula Blickle Foundation. In it, the artist presents a scenario characterized by young girls between the ages of ten and twelve from New York’s high society. At once rapt and completely matter-of-fact, these almost artificial-seeming wunderkinder move about in Chanel outfits in a world filled with mobile phones, stylists, and VIP personalities. In a furious finale, the anonymous-looking setting in which they are filmed is dissected with brutish elegance.
Rudelius usually works with actors or amateurs whom she directs for her videos or photographs, bringing out their individual reactions and actions with deliberate questions. In addition to Rudelius’s delicate sense of social dynamics, it is these clear structures that make the sometimes edited, sometimes free dialogues in her works so powerful for the viewer. She investigates human behavior, social and cultural stereotypes, and prejudices that are often revealed in judgments about supposedly “alien” cultures. She also treats the need for demarcation, identity, and sense of belonging to a group that is expressed particularly clearly in certain social constellations. Although her images and spoken texts often seem like documentary material, they are usually staged, so that there are constant shifts in the seemingly authentic picture.
Julika Rudelius has been represented in a number of exhibitions by renowned institutions in recent years, such as the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven, ZKM Karlsruhe, Tate Modern London, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Frankfurter Kunstverein. In 2002 she was represented by the work “Train” (2001) in the exhibition “Dark Spring”, curated by Nicolaus Schafhausen and Liam Gillick, at the Ursula Blickle Foundation.
Curated by Katja Schroeder, director, Westfälischer Kunstverein
A catalogue will be published by Sternberg Press with texts by Dominic Eichler, Katja Schroeder and and interview by Jenny Schlenzka.
Ursula Blickle Foundation
Mühlweg 18, D-76703 Kraichtal-UÖ
Phone +49 7251 60919, Fax +49 7251 68687
www.ursula-blickle-stiftung.de
Press Information
Dr. Hannelore Paflik-Huber, Phone +49 176 23622819
presse@ursula-blickle-stiftung.de
Opening Hours
Wed. 2 – 5 p.m., Sun. 2 – 6 p.m.
and by appointment
Closing Event
April, 25, 2010, 4 p.m.
