Nadja SCHÖLLHAMMER

Profile

Born in 1971. Graduated from Universität der Künste Berlin, Germany (Master of Fine Arts) in 2003.
Recent main activities are

INSOMNIA, 2011, Große Kunstschau, Worpswede, Germany (Museum Solo Exhibition; spatial installation "Insomnia" developed for the site, framed drawings and cut-outs; catalogue will be published),

THRILL, 2011, Ancienne Douane, Strasbourg, France (wall installation "Root Hunting" within Group Exhibition, with catalogue published),

TERRA INCOGNITA, 2010, Alexandra Saheb Gallery, Berlin; Germany (Solo Exhibition, spatial installation "Terra Incognita" and framed works),

COMPILATION IV, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany (spatial installation "Echo" within Group Exhibition, with catalogue published),

ZYKLOP, 2009, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany (Solo Exhibition, spatial installation "Zyklop" developed over 8 months of residency stay);

The art work of Nadja Schöllhammer ranges from abundant, multilayered installations in space to small drawings and cut-outs. Her approach to the material as well as her use of narration in her drawings and installations is based on her interest in the loss of human control. She is fascinated by the fragility and vulnerability of paper, and other ephemeral materials. By burning and cutting paper objects, and interweaving these structures with fragments of drawings, she creates three-dimensional formations, which can be physically entered and experienced by the viewer.
In 2011, she has received a project support grant by Karin Abt-Straubinger-Foundation in Stuttgart, Germany, for the development of her spatial installation INSOMNIA within the framework of her Museum Solo Exhibition in Große Kunstschau, Worpswede (Germany). For this exhibition, she has developed in situ large-scale objects by burning filigree three-dimensional structures out of paper.
From 2003-2011, Nadja Schöllhammer has developed plenty of mazy installations in different spaces, amongst them site specific installations in former war shelters in Berlin, wall drawings in the streets of Morocco, paper installations in ancient factories and project rooms in several European cities, as well as spatial works in "white cube"-spaces of galleries and museums. She participated in numerous exhibitions in Germany and abroad:

Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions and Projects:
Unterwegs und en passant, Galerie Gesellschaft, Berlin (2012); THRILL, Ancienne Douane, Strasbourg, France (2011); Mit Seife und Gabeln, Kunstraum Kreuzlingen, Switzerland (2011); Arbeitstitel. Working title. , Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany (2011); Terra Incognita, Alexandra Saheb Gallery, Berlin; Germany (Solo Show, 2010); Arbeitstitel. Working title. Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany (2010); Compilation IV, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany (2009), Tytul Roboczy. Working Title, Centre for Contemp. Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland (2009); Zyklop, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart (Solo Show, 2009); Scherenschnitte - Kontur pur, Museum Bellerive, Zurich, Switzerland (2009); ICI Berlin, La Condition Publique, Lille, France (2009); MAGMA - Goldrausch 2006, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin (2006), Über Schönheit, Web-Projekt www.ueber-beauty.com, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2005); Nawarak Lelmal, Goethe-Institut Rabat, Marokko (2005); Der Freie Wille, former shelter Treptow, Berlin (2005), Stipendiaten der Karl Hofer Gesellschaft, Haus am Kleistpark, Berlin (2004); Colours of Berlin, Kunst-Werke, Berlin (2002)

From 2008-2009, Nadja Schöllhammer was a fellow of the artists` residency Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany, where she has deepened her material experiments and research about the three-dimensionality of drawing, and discovered a method to burn out three dimensional drawings out of large-scale objects. In 2012, she will be a resident of the artists` residency Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral in Bad Ems, Germany, where she will continue her experiments on fragility, ephemeral structures, and transformations.

Between 2003 and 2007, Nadja Schöllhammer has received several travel grants for her artistic research, such as a DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) travel grants for Colombia (2007), and Mexico (2005), for her research about death cults. In 2005, she travelled to Morocco with the artists group Nawarak Lelmal, as a part of the NaFöG postgraduate grant from the Berlin Senate for Science, Research and Culture. In 2006, she was supported by the postgraduate professional programme Goldrausch Art IT, Berlin in 2006. Earlier, she received a working grant by the Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn (2004) and the Helmut-Thoma Prize for Painting, University of the Arts (UdK), Berlin (2003).

Selected awards, grants and residencies:
2012     
grant and working residency programme by Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems, Germany
Tokyo Wonder Site Creator-in-Residence Programme, supported by the Senate of Berlin

2011 
project support grant by Karin Abt-Straubinger-Stiftung, Stuttgart, Germany

2010 
support by German artists` fonds by the President (Bundespräsident) of Germany
Prize for exhibition of the year by Fördervereins of kunst galerie Fürth

2008-2009 
grant and working residency programme by Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany

2007-2008 
research travel grant by DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) for Colombia (Bogotá, Cali, Pasto)

2006 
Goldrausch art IT postgraduate professional development programme, Berlin

2005-2006  
NaFöG postgraduate grant for artists by the Senate of Berlin

2005 
research grant by DAAD for art project in Mexico (Mexiko City/Michoacán/Oaxaca)
NaFöG research travel grant for Morocco (Asilah, Marakech, Rabat amongst others)

2004-2005
grant by Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn (National Endowment of Culture of Republic of Germany)

2003-2006
studio grant by Karl Hofer Gesellschaft, Berlin

2003
Helmut-Thoma-Prize for painting, Universität der Künste Berlin

2001-2002
scholarship by Stiftung Dorothea Konwiarz, Berlin

About works / performance

Nadja Schöllhammer creates drawings, three dimensional wall works and large-scale installations made by paper and organic material. In her works, she interweaves collective fantasies with her own inner mental space into mazy image structures. Tactility, immediate sensual perception, material transformation, and ephemeral structures are important aspects of her work.
For Nadja Schöllhammer, drawing is an immediate way of expressing the movements of human consciousness, including desires and fears. She investigates these forces on a material level, and also in respect of content and narrative elements. Fragile and ephemeral materials, like paper and organic substances with tactile characteristics, function as a point of departure. She approaches the material, as well as her own imagination, as an unknown and often surprising, uncontrollable matter. Within the working process, she incorporates and transforms the essences of narrations into her installations - by drawing, cutting, and recently, also by burning them with fire. In a long-term process, she develops installations which grow into space and create a multi-layered, filigree material body, and which can be entered and physically experienced by the viewer.
Nadja Schöllhammer`s installations deal with non-rational forces, appearing in the turning moment where control gets lost and beauty turns into subliminal violence.

Insomnia
2011 (installation view, Museum Grosse Kunstschau Worpswede, Germany), burnt and cut-out paper objects, wire, acrylic paint, water-colours, graphite and crayon;
size: 1700 x 690 cm, height 625 cm

Insomnia
2011 (installation view, Museum Grosse Kunstschau Worpswede, Germany), burnt and cut-out paper objects, wire, acrylic paint, water-colours, graphite and crayon;
size: 1700 x 690 cm, height 625 cm

Insomnia
2011 (installation view, Museum Grosse Kunstschau Worpswede, Germany), burnt and cut-out paper objects, wire, acrylic paint, water-colours, graphite and crayon;
Size of detail: 200 x 170 x 10 cm

Terra Incognita
2010 (detail of installation, Alexandra Saheb Gallery, Berlin),
cut-out and burnt paper, thread, acrylic paint, crayon, Indian ink and water-colours;
95 x 80 x 15 cm (size of detail)

Terra Incognita
2010 (detail of installation, Alexandra Saheb Gallery, Berlin),
burnt and cut-out paper, crayon, Indian ink and water-colours;
40 x 30 x 5 cm (size of detail)

Zyklop
2009 (installation view, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany),
burnt and cut-out paper objects, ashes, wire, wood, acrylic paint, water-colours, graphite and crayon;
size: 1100 x 700 cm, height 360 cm

Zyklop
2009 (detail of installation, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany),
burnt and cut-out paper, ashes, wire, acrylic paint, water-colours, graphite and crayon;
size of detail: 82 x 69 x 20 cm

Zyklop
2009 (detail of installation, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany),
burnt and cut-out paper, ashes, wire, acrylic paint, water-colours, graphite and crayon;
size of detail: 82 x 69 x 20 cm

Echo
2009 (installation view, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany),
burnt and cut-out paper objects, wire, wood, acrylic paint, water-colours, graphite and crayon;
size of installation: 780 x 1400 cm,  height 800 cm

Echo
2009 (detail of installation, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany),
burnt and cut-out paper, wire, acrylic paint, water-colours, graphite and crayon;
size of detail: 50 x 70 x 8 cm