The following text is taken from Front Magazine, vol. IX, no. 3, p. 7, Jan/Feb 1998:

Western Front’s Gallery will function as an Open Studio for visiting German artist Olaf Nicolai. Nicolai will present previous work and use the Gallery as a working space to develop new work. Nicolai’s visit will complete the artist exchange which took Vancouver artist Henry Tsang to Leipzig, Germany, where he was hosted by the Galerie Eigen + Art.

“A seminal idea in Olaf Nicolai’s work is the concept of “collection”. Collection not only as a principle in museums for art and natural science but, more generally, in the sense of arrangements that form our contemporary world as mediated presentations. Therefore, collection is understood as a program that structures and interprets…’All things in this cosmos function as signs and are part of a matrix which works as a kind of grammer organizing the assignment of particles. In this way structures are created that, like texts, are revelation and program at the same time – the world as text’.” – documenta X short guide

Olaf Nicolai studied literature, philosophy, and semiotics. Based in Leipzig and Berlin, he has shown his work in Europe, Sao Paulo, New York and most recently presented an installation at documenta X in Germany. There will be an Artist Talk at the Goethe Institute, February 5 at 7:30 pm.

This project was made possible with the support of the city of Leipzig, the Goethe Institute Vancouver, and the department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Canada.