INTERVIEW WITH MARIELE NEUDECKER

Mariele Neudecker, born in Düsseldorf in 1965, is a renowned German sculptor and installation artist. Her work is characterized by a fusion of nature, landscape, and science. Particularly striking is her series of display cases featuring natural miniatures. In these highly detailed installations, Neudecker creates a synthesis of artistic expression and scientific precision, transporting viewers into a world of reflection on environment, transience, and human perception.

In an interview with Hatje Cantz, Mariele Neudecker discusses her approach to Caspar David Friedrich and the insights gained from Friedrich's works for her own artistic creations.

Hatje Cantz: Have you experienced a very personal "Friedrich moment" in your life that you would like to tell us about?

Mariele Neudecker: I think I’ve had many such Friedrich moments... it depends on how you interpret it. When I first saw a reproduction of Friedrich's Cross in the Mountains/Tetschener Altar in a book, it was a pivotal experience: to have before me a reproduction of a painting of a painted representation of a wooden crucifix sculpture – from 1808 – my understanding and the meaning of reproduction, representation, and metaphor completely changed in that moment. That was one type of Friedrich moment... Or, on some trips, I certainly had a different kind of Friedrich moment: (I like to travel alone)... I had a window seat on the plane... I looked out at the vast sky and the vast landscape, after an incredible journey and many impressions from the last three months in Brazil – tears streamed from my eyes from sheer happiness and emotion – I had worked in beekeeping for 3 months, seen the Amazon, been to the São Paulo Biennial – it was almost too much of a good thing – and a sublime and emotionally overwhelming moment that is hard to describe... ... or also: when I was in Northwest Greenland where I was (almost) alone on the ice – 360° endless white expanse of ice... I had no network, no reception, no electricity for several weeks. Such a rare, sublime experience – also not easy to describe.

HC: Can you tell us which elements from Friedrich's work you have incorporated into your own artworks and what role they play in your artistic practice?

MN: The intensity of his smaller paintings – influenced me greatly. I also liked the complex questioning in the images. People were always very small, and I saw the Fog painting in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, and when I moved to London, the Winter Landscape in the National Gallery.

Caspar David Friedrich: Seashore in Fog, c. 1807, oil on canvas, 34.2 x 50.2 cm, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere

Both are about 40 x 50 cm in format, relatively small – and very poignant. The portrayal of people and the human image in Caspar David Friedrich's work is new and different and brings with it a new form of subjectivism. I was endlessly fascinated that in the Winter Landscape, the fir tree was a little bit taller than the church spire, as if one were privy to a wondrous secret. Whether it was about religion or nature, it positively provoked my interest in landscape and its cultural and human significance. The political significance became even clearer and more important to me since I lived abroad, which I still do. The Third Reich and Hitler's preference for working with 'romantic' symbolism like 'sunsets' became a subjective and almost scientific discussion. Hans-Jürgen Syberberg says in his film: Hitler, a Film from Germany, that 'Hitler had stolen our sunsets'. Soon after reading that, I made two works that strongly referenced Friedrich's landscape paintings, with the titles: Stolen Sunsets and Looking West (Sunset), both 1996. Mental constructions and concepts could take physical forms and be made visible in new and different ways. It became important for me to inject new impulses into this visual world of summit crosses, sunsets, vast landscapes, and figures seen from behind, to make them more human, even if the 'people' disappeared, leaving small signs like small signs, roads, paths, etc. CDF paintings that have had a direct reference to my Tank works so far: Fog (1807) was the first original painting by Friedrich that I saw in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and incorporated into a tank work (Fog, 1996). The Sea of Ice (1823/24). I made an ice model out of wax – before I read that his father made candles, which of course fascinated me (Sea of Ice 1997).

 

Caspar David Friedrich: The Sea of Ice, c. 1823/24, oil on canvas, 96.7 x 126.9 cm, Hamburger Kunsthalle

Chalk Cliffs on Rügen (1818): I traveled to Rügen especially a long time ago – but I only saw the exact location of the painting from the sea – not from above, the original perspective. Seeing the invisible in the perspective of the painting greatly influenced my work at the time, as did later my ‘deep-sea works’, as well as the limited, human perspective in the Arctic. Morning Fog in the Mountains (1997) was based on Morning Fog in the Mountains (1808), three-dimensional and in a fog solution. A reproduction of a detail from the Morning Fog painting became the work Much Was Decided Before You Were Born (1997). I Don't Know How I Resisted the Urge to Run (1998) was my first forest-tank work that incorporated some elements from Friedrich's paintings – but was specifically based on a postcard from the Neander Valley, where I grew up. The Morning (1821/22) inspired Gravity Prevents the Atmosphere from Drifting into Outer Space (2001), View from the Artist's Studio (right window) (1805/1806) became the double-tank Who Has Turned Us Around Like This? (2002). A reproduction of the Eldena Abbey Ruin (1825) became 24 hours/48 hours (1+2) (2011), a two-part installation, in two adjacent rooms. Many works were based on reproductions from books. I often reacted subjectively to details from the images, for example with Ship (1998). I was increasingly interested in the landscape and the presence of humans – rather than nature in its pure form. In our essence, we are part of nature, which is often forgotten – we are also part of the landscape, with our cultural perspectives.
 

HC: Why do you think Friedrich's work is still relevant today?

MN: The themes are timeless – the sublime, human experience, religiosity, spirituality and mysticism – melancholy, longing, environmental awareness, as well as the political – all are very relevant today. The figure seen from behind. It is an invitation to see a different perspective; or rather: to imagine a different viewpoint – imagination plays an active role. It has always been and still is about the human understanding of the state of life in the respective era – and the possibility of the sublime in the everyday.