Dieter Kiessling

Dieter Kiessling studied (1978-86) at the Münster branch of the Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf, ultimately as a master student of Reiner Ruthenbeck. In 1986 he won the 'Produktionspreis' awarded at the Internationale Videonale held in Bonn. This was followed by other prizes, including, in 1993, a work grant awarded by the Kunstfonds Bonn e.V. Kiessling lives in Düsseldorf.

Kiessling started as a painter, before turning to sculpture and object art, and ultimately to photography and video art. He first came to attention with his video installations using closed-circuit transmission procedures, and with the objects through which he added a fourth dimension of time to the realm of sculpture by experimenting with innovative ways of arranging objects in space. Having already produced several sculptural installations before he started working with video (in 1982), he subsequently combined the two categories to great effect. His video installations are characterized by startling optical phenomena. They are also notable for invariably achieving the greatest possible formal clarity (also a feature of Kiessling's objects). Light sources, spaces, mirroring phenomena and visual signals are among Kiessling's central themes, and this is also true of his photographs. Kiessling finds his starting point in the function of the machines he employs (camera, projector, monitor), and he uses these to pose technically and philosophically sophisticated questions concerning the visual reproduction of observed reality. This process of questioning, always infused with an element of magic, subtly juxtaposes the represented object and the process of representation.

Individual exhibitions (selection)
 
1987 Galerie Hake, Münster
1988 Galerie Hake, Münster
1989 Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach
1991 Thomas Backhauß Galerie, Düsseldorf
1994 Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; Räume für Neue Kunst - Rolf Hengesbach, Wuppertal
1995 Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst, Bremen
1996 Räume für Neue Kunst - Rolf Hengesbach, Wuppertal; Kunstraum Wuppertal
 
Group exhibitions (selection)
 
1986 »2. Internationale Videonale«, Bonn; »Elektronische Künste«, Wissenschaftszentrum, Bonn
1987 »Neues Video aus der BRD«, Öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basle
1988 »Deutsche Videokunst 1986 bis 1988«, Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl
1989 »Video-Skulptur retrospektiv und aktuell 1963-89«, Kunstverein, Cologne, subsequently at Kongresshalle Berlin, Kunsthaus Zürich
1990 »ARS VIVA 90/91«, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberg, subsequently at Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst, Leipzig, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden
1991 »MultiMediale 2«, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe
1992 »Tiefgang«, Schlossbunker Mannheim; »Fluxus-Virus, Köln«, Aktionsforum Praterinsel, Munich
1993 »Gegenbilder«, various churches in Münster; »MultiMediale 3«, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe
1994 »Minima Media«, Medienbiennale Leipzig; »Videoskulptur in Deutschland seit 1963«, Kunsthalle Rostock, subsequently at Centrum Beeldende Kunst, Groningen, World Wide Video Centre, The Hague, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Ghent, and at venues in Madrid and Warsaw
1995 »Art & Electronics«, Pao Gallerys, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong; »MultiMediale 4«, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe
1996 »Begegnungen«, Kunsthalle Barmen, Wuppertal; »Electronic Undercurrents«, Statens, Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen; »Objekt: Video«, Oberösterreichische Landesgalerie, Linz
1997 »Der Traum vom Sehen«, Gasometer Oberhausen; »Escaping Gravily, Festival Video Positive '97«, Manchester; »Vidéo-Films-Expositions«, Saint-Gervais Genève, Geneva

[Frauke Syamken, 1997]