List of works to be transferred to my burial chamber after my death. This is to be realized within Pyramid Mountain, conceived by Ingo Niermann—a pyramid at least 200 meters high carved from a natural mountain that will be reburied under the excavated material after my internment, restoring it to its original mountain shape.
Erik Niedling and Ingo Niermann
Day
Inkjet on paper in a wooden frame, 230 x 180 cm, 2012.
*Area plan mapping events on the night of December 24, 1998.
Erik Niedling and Ingo Niermann
Interview I
Laser print on paper, 194 pages, each 29.7 x 21 cm, 2012.
*Transcription of interviews Ingo Niermann conducted with individuals who participated in the events on the night of December 24, 1998.
Erik Niedling and Ingo Niermann
Tribunal of Reconciliation
Active speaker with built-in MP3 player, punching bag, 103.3 x 50 x 300 cm, sound loop 3:46 min., 2012.
*A speaker aimed at a punching bag plays a group EEG converted to sound, recorded during a reunion of all those who were friends on the night of December 24, 1998 and participated in the transpiring events. The speaker and punching bag were located at the place the events took place.
Erik Niedling
ST37
Steel, goat’s milk, laser, 197.3 x 2.5 cm, 2012.
*A steel rod I have compressed at both ends and rubbed with goat’s milk, the upper end of which is struck by a green laser beam. The first impetus towards an escalation of the events on the night of December 24, 1998 came from a laser aimed at my eyes.
Erik Niedling
Cycle
C-print in a wooden frame, 167 x 125.5 cm, 2012.
*Reproduction of a print from a photograph of a photograph lifted from a newspaper. The picture shows a Harley Davidson motorcycle that I won as a prize at a carnival in 1986. The print has accompanied me ever since and continues to fade more and more with each passing day.
Erik Niedling and Ingo Niermann
Chamber
Inkjet on paper in a wooden frame, 230 x 180 cm, 2012.
*Construction plan for the Pyramid Mountain concept, which I acquired from Ingo Niermann, along with my burial chamber.
Erik Niedling and Ingo Niermann
Interview II
Laser print on paper, 780 pages each 29.7 x 21 cm, 2012.
*Transcription of Ingo Niermann’s interview with me about my life.
Erik Niedling
Empire of the Sun
C-print in a wooden frame, 162.5 x 125.5 cm, 2012.
*My last large-format photograph, taken on a supposedly ancient vegetation-covered pyramid in Visoko, Bosnia.
Erik Niedling
Particles
Soot behind glass in a wooden frame, seven parts, each 89 x 69 cm, 2012.
*Glass panes coated with soot from burning assorted parts of my artistic archive.
Erik Niedling
Coffin
Zinc, wood, peat, 190 x 45 x 50 cm, 2012.
*Receptacle for preserving my corpse in Pyramid Mountain.
Erik Niedling
Display cases
19 glass display cases with artifacts, documents, photos and videos, 2012.
*Documentation of my life and work phases from birth through the last year.
8:45 pm • 10 April 2013
Erik Niedling
Cycle
C-print in a wooden frame, 167 x 125.5 cm, 2012.
8:40 pm • 9 April 2013
Erik Niedling with Ingo Niermann: The Chamber at Exile, Berlin
Installationview
8:39 pm • 9 April 2013 • 5 notes
Erik Niedling with Ingo Niermann: The Chamber at Exile, Berlin
Installationview
8:13 pm • 9 April 2013 • 1 note
Erik Niedling
Particles
Soot on glass in wooden frame, 89 x 69 cm, 2012.
8:12 pm • 9 April 2013 • 1 note
Erik Niedling with Ingo Niermann: The Chamber at Exile, Berlin
Installationview
8:10 pm • 9 April 2013 • 1 note
Erik Niedling
ST37
Steel, goat’s milk, laser, 197.3 x 2.5 cm, 2012.
8:08 pm • 9 April 2013 • 38 notes
Erik Niedling with Ingo Niermann: The Chamber at Exile, Berlin
Installationview
8:07 pm • 9 April 2013 • 2 notes
Erik Niedling with Ingo Niermann: The Chamber at Exile, Berlin
Installationview
8:04 pm • 9 April 2013
Erik Niedling with Ingo Niermann: The Chamber
Mar 9 - Apr 13, 2013 at Exile, Berlin
Opening: Saturday, Mar 9, 7-10pm
Erik Niedling would like to be buried in Pyramid Mountain, the largest tomb of all time, conceived by writer Ingo Niermann. Therefore a structure at least 200 meters high is chiseled out of a mountain and re-covered with the excavated material after Niedling’s internment, thus restoring it to its original form.
To make this goal a reality, Niedling lived one year as though it were his last. During this time he designed his own burial chamber. Refraining from his previous artistic work as a photographer and archivist of material built, planted, and photographed by others, he wholly dedicated himself to his own life and its relics.
Particular attention was paid to a night in the late 1990s, in which the physical and psychological excesses he experienced with a group of friends in his hometown of Erfurt culminated in Niedling’s decision to become an artist.
Like Niedling’s previous works, Chamber deals with the notion of vanishing—this time, his own disappearance and that of his work. In doing so, Niedling experiences himself not as a victim of evolution, but rather as an “owner” in the Stirnerian sense of the word, one who playfully rehearses his own demise and retains control over his work even after his death.
For the exhibition at Exile the Chamber cycle is displayed like in a walk-in-closet to stress the transitory character of the work till it is finally becoming part of Pyramid Mountain.
Text by Ingo Niermann
Further reading:
Ingo Niermann with Erik Niedling, The Future of Art: A Manual, Sternberg Press, 2011.
Erik Niedling with Ingo Niermann, The Future of Art: A Diary, Sternberg Press, 2012.
12:25 pm • 8 March 2013 • 2 notes
Erik Niedling
Empire of the Sun
C-print in a wooden frame, 162.5 x 125.5 cm, 2012.
5:09 pm • 7 January 2013 • 13 notes
Erik Niedling
ST37
Steel, goat’s milk, laser, 197.3 x 2.5 cm, 2012.
(Source: thisisexile.com)
5:04 pm • 7 January 2013 • 3 notes
Erik Niedling (with Ingo Niermann)
18.10.1973 - 29.02.2012 (Installationview, Neues Museum Weimar)
19 glass display cases with artifacts, documents, photos and videos of the artist’s life and work from birth to presumed death on February, 29, 2012.
5:00 pm • 7 January 2013 • 2 notes
Erik Niedling (with Ingo Niermann)
Pyramid Mountain, CAD rendering , 84,1 x 59.4 cm, 2012
Concept drawing of the burial chamber the artist envisions to be buried in.
(via neuesmuseumweimar)
4:29 pm • 31 December 2012 • 13 notes
Erik Niedling (with Ingo Niermann)
18.10.1973 - 29.02.2012 (Installationview, Neues Museum,Weimar)
4:28 pm • 31 December 2012 • 12 notes
