In his multimedia performances and installations Nils Alix-Tabeling (*1991 in Paris) moves on the threshold between fiction and reality. His works quote from science fiction, fashion, historical objects and furniture, shamanism and drag – critically reflecting the history of institutional violence against female and queer bodies.
But Who is Ulrike Mandrake? reconsiders the legacy of 1970s terrorism. The title evokes the name of a fictional character and suggests a semantic connection between the journalist and RAF terrorist Ulrike Meinhof (1934-1976) and the poisonous medicinal and ritual plant mandrake, which visually resembles human figures. It also refers to the human longing to penetrate to a supposed root of evil through scientific understanding. With an extensive new group of works as well as a performance, the artist navigates between the times, worlds, ambivalences and wounds that this topic opens up. (Text: Dortmunder Kusntverein)
But Who is Ulrike Mandrake? reconsiders the legacy of 1970s terrorism. The title evokes the name of a fictional character and suggests a semantic connection between the journalist and RAF terrorist Ulrike Meinhof (1934-1976) and the poisonous medicinal and ritual plant mandrake, which visually resembles human figures. It also refers to the human longing to penetrate to a supposed root of evil through scientific understanding. With an extensive new group of works as well as a performance, the artist navigates between the times, worlds, ambivalences and wounds that this topic opens up. (Text: Dortmunder Kusntverein)
