Julian Rosefeldt

Life and work

Julian Rosefeldt studied architecture in Munich and Barcelona. After receiving his diploma in 1994, he began working in collaboration with fellow Munich graduate Piero Steinle. Since 1999 he has worked independently.

Rosefeldt’s work consists primarily of elaborate, visually opulent film and video installations. In most cases, these installations are shown as panoramic multi-channel projections. They range in style from documentary to theatrical narrative. In Lonely Planet (2006), for example, the artist portrays a hippie-ish Western backpacker on a trip through India; as he moves through a series of cliched sequences, including a frenetic Bollywood-inspired dance number, the camera periodically pulls back to reveal spotlights, dressing rooms and other filmmaking necessities. Rosefeldt primarily uses 16-mm and 35-mm film and has often worked in close cooperation with the cinematographer Christoph Krauss. He also works in the medium of photography.

Rosefeldt has lived and worked in Berlin since 1999, when he relocated as Artist in Residence at the Sammlung Hoffmann. In addition to his art production, Rosefeldt also works with the Schaubuhne am Lehniner Platz, often collaborating with its head and creative director Thomas Ostermeier. In 2009, Rosefeldt was invited as a guest professor by the Media Art and Media Design faculty at the Bauhaus-Universitat Weimar. Since 2010, Rosefeldt has been a member of the Bayerischen Akademie der Schonen Kunste in the division of Film and Media Art. Since 2011 he has been professor at the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste in Munich.

Rosefeldt is represented by Galerie ARNDT (Berlin), Max Wigram Gallery (London) and Barbara Gross Galerie (Munich).

Exhibitions

Rosefeldt has exhibited internationally since 1997 at the Bienal de Sao Paulo (2004), Athens Biennal (2007), the P.S.1, New York (1998), Kunst-Werke Berlin e.V. – Institute for Contemporary Art (2004), the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2008), and the Kunstmuseum Bonn (2009), amongst others. Rosefeldt’s first solo show in the United States was presented in 2009 by his ARNDT Berlin, in the space of Phillips de Pury & Company.

Collections

Julian Rosefeldt’s works are represented in the following permanent collections, amongst others: Museum of Modern Art New York, Saatchi Gallery London, Goetz Collection, Munich, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Burger Collection Hong Kong, Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation Miami, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon, Sammlung Hoffmann Berlin, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Wien, CAC Malaga, Ellipse Foundation – Contemporary Art Collection, Cascais, Maison Europeenne de la Photographie, Paris, Museum Franz Gertsch, Burgdorf

Trivia

Tom Tykwer’s 2009 film The International (starring Clive Owen, Naomi Watts and Armin Mueller-Stahl in leading roles) featured a detailed life-size replica of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum's interior space, designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. In the replica of the exhibition rooms was presented a retrospective of Julian Rosefeldt, primarily consisting of film installations. The famous climax of Tykwer's film is a dramatic shootout within the museum where many of Rosefeldt's installations are riddled with bullets.