Peter Friedl at Artspace
Artspace is proud to present the first exhibition of Peter Friedl in New Zealand.
Berlin-based artist Peter Friedl began his career as a writer and critic on contemporary theatre before turning to his
own artistic production in the 1980s. His work, consistently diverse in medium and style, frequently aims to portray the
methods and conventions of different genres of representation. Opening on the 28th of February, his solo exhibition The
Dramatist will focus on the artist’s most recent production, and will include the latest iteration of his on going
projectPlaygrounds, specifically produced for Artspace. Beginning in 1995, Playgrounds shows documentary-style
photographs of children’s play areas taken by Friedl during visits to other countries. The collection (at this present
moment) consists of more than 1000 digitized colour images, arranged alphabetically by reference to their location
names. Less an archive than an anthropological project, this body of work functions as a study in narration and
theatricality: a story of the world viewed through its playgrounds.
The exhibition title The Dramatist derives from Friedl’s enigmatic sculptural piece The Dramatist (Black Hamlet, Crazy
Henry, Giulia, Toussaint, (2013) composed of four masterly handcrafted marionettes. In addition, the exhibition will
bring together a vast selection of the artists drawings on paper, exploring personal and political histories.
The Dramatist aims to present a body of Friedl’s work to highlight his aesthetics of disarmament, recontextualiziation,
and critical intimacy. “Friedl is known for challenging the perception of images. Through different means he makes us
confront political, personal and problematic histories” Says Artspace Director Caterina Riva.
Friedl will be in Auckland for the opening of the exhibition.
Peter Friedl (b. 1960, Austria) is an artist living in Berlin. His work has been exhibited worldwide, including Museo
Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Centre Pompidou, Paris, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Van Abbemuseum,
Eindhoven, Hamburger Kunsthalle. He has participated in documenta X (1997) and documenta 12 (2007), the 48th Venice
Biennale (1999), 3rd Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art (2004), Manifesta 7, Trento (2008), the 7th Gwangju Biennale
(2008), the 28th Bienal de São Paulo (2008), La Triennale, Paris (2012), the Taipei Biennial (2012), and the 10th São
Paulo Architecture Biennale (2013). Selected solo exhibitions include:Work 1964–2006, Museu d’Art Contemporani de
Barcelona, Miami Art Central, Musée d’Art Contemporain, Marseille (2006–07); Blow Job, Extra City Kunsthal, Antwerp
(2008); Working, Kunsthalle Basel (2008); Peter Friedl, Sala Rekalde, Bilbao (2010), and King Kong, Le Lieu unique,
Nantes (2013).