Manuel Kolip works at the intersection of stage design, video, animation and painting. His works explore spaces, memories and everyday moments, often leaving room for the viewer’s own interpretation. His paintings focus on seemingly insignificant details of public spaces, transforming fleeting observations into carefully painted visual diaries.
What I love about combining stage design and video is that two very different materialities come together. Stage design exists as a physical construction made of wood, steel and paint, while projection consists of light that can be layered onto it.
Scenes involving dreams, wishes, memories or surreal events are particularly well suited to video. It can give a constructed space movement, depth or structure that can disappear just as quickly. In a way, much like our dreams or memories sometimes do.
My paintings are very similar to stage sets. Sometimes they also resemble film stills. My paintings are often devoid of people, yet they still tell us a lot about ourselves.
The paintings could be the beginning or the end of a scene. Since I work from photographs that I take while travelling, I often know little more about my subjects than the viewers do. Together with them, I can ask myself: Who lives in the apartment behind the lace curtain? When was the last big trip this VW bus took? How long will it be before this graffiti is painted over?
The beauty is that we will probably never get answers to these questions.
With my stage spaces, it is important to me that they can literally be played in during the rehearsal process. Ideally, as a stage designer, I provide possibilities for interaction, and the ensemble takes possession of the space and turns it into its own tool. I also find it important that the spaces remain open in terms of their meaning. Every viewer should be able to develop their own interpretation of the space
You have already exhibited at KUNST/MITTE and are presenting your work together with New & Abstract for the first time this year. What significance do art fairs have for your work and your exchange with the audience?
Art fairs are a great opportunity to connect with many people within a short period of time and to exchange ideas about art. You receive a lot of feedback, which is wonderful because it allows you to see your own work through other people’s eyes.
It is also great when visitors return who already know me and my work from previous exhibitions or fairs – and, of course, when collectors decide to take another one of my works home with them.
How do you experience KUNST/MITTE as a platform for contemporary art, and what contribution would you like your work to make there?
KUNST/MITTE has grown significantly over the past few years and is becoming increasingly important. I really like its relaxed atmosphere and the exciting mix of very different kinds of art.
My works are certainly not among the loudest. I have found that they can provide a moment of calm and invite people to pause and linger.
What are you currently working on – and what comes next?
At the moment, I am focusing more heavily on theatre projects at Grenzlandtheater Aachen, Theater Kiel and Theater Kempten.
Once all of these projects are completed in the autumn, I’m looking forward to having time for painting again. I would like to explore some motifs from my summer holiday – scenes by the sea, and, for a change, perhaps also include people in the paintings.
My next art fairs are ARTe Wiesbaden and DAF Frankfurt.