Nicolas Polli

Drawing inspiration from the Italian children’s song Per fare tutto ci vuole un fiore by Gianni Rodari, interdisciplinary artist Nicolas Polli (b. 1989) reflects on his own practice and the circularity of materials in his first solo exhibition in Germany. Polli, who combines photography, design, publishing, and furniture-making in his work, lays bare the processes of creation: Working materials, tools, and intermediate steps are just as important as the final product; constructions, the backs of framed pictures, and the process of creating the exhibition are all part of the artistic concept. In this way, the wood used for the exhibition architecture later finds a new use as furniture in the artist’s studio, while photographs that were initially created merely as lighting tests or working sketches become exhibition objects in their own right.

Even before the exhibition opens, Polli makes the installation process visible to the public as part of the site-specific intervention To Make Everything in Twenty-One Days. In this way, the artist questions the value and significance of images and objects and encourages viewers to reconsider material cycles, sustainable design, and the conditions of artistic production.