Karolina Rupp
info@karolinarupp.com, karolinarupp.com, instagram.com/karolinarupp
Karolina Rupp (b.1988, Germany) grew up in Pretoria, South Africa. With a background in sociology, anthropology and photography, Karolina worked in a Pretoria-based art studio and as of early 2016 is living in The Netherlands. Initially relying on lens-based media, her work has shifted to an artistic practice rooted in sculpture and installation. Imbued with phenomenological and ontological undercurrents and the elements of chance, repetition and ephemerality, Karolina’s interest lies in the intuitive artistic process itself as a potential catalyst to discover and make sense of the unknown. Her work has been shown in various group exhibitions both in South Africa and The Netherlands.
GRADUATION PROJECT
Yesterday we buried a small bird. It's been a while since one flew against the window. The fall to the floor - in slow motion. Its tail twitched for one or two seconds and then with eyes closed the bird lay still. The earth was black and the earthworms fled to the surface when I pushed the shovel into the ground.
This morning a flock of shrieking birds circling the large pine outside that same window reminded me that I'm awake. Was it because of the marten at the base of the tree or the fall down the stairs earlier that caused all ears to tremble?
Looking around, folds are no longer folds, textures become packaging, and I wonder if my breathing is real.
I am reminded that the inside mirrors the outside and vice versa. That the macrocosm is the microcosm and vice versa. That that to which you react - stays. And what you utter shall disappear.
THESIS
I wanted to write about the sublime
In her thesis "she questions the struggle between being, thinking and doing. Implicitly she reshapes Kant’s notion of the sublime by showing how moments of lucidity could engender a sublime experience. The theme is universal, existentialist and therefore of all times. Her thesis is an outstanding example of how an artistic attitude and an artistic domain of interest can be researched in a prose style of writing. The rhizomatic thought process, a recurrent theme in her thesis, is reflected in the final design: a folded poster, which invites the reader to choose his own reading track."