Natascha Sadr Haghighian to Represent Germany at the Venice Biennale 2019

Under the curatorial duties of Franciska Zólyom, Natascha Süder Happelmann (known as Natascha Sadr Haghighian) will represent the German pavilion at the 58th International Art Exhibition of the Biennale di Venezia.

For the contribution to the German Pavilion 2019, Natascha Süder Happelmann works with a personal spokeswoman, Helene Duldung, and adapts her name especially for the task. The artist has evaluated a collection of various different names that have been used by official authorities to address her over the last thirty years. After careful analysis of the variations, which have arisen due to autocorrect programmes and misspelling, she has used algorithmic parameters and social protocols to select the most suitable version: an optimal form of integration.

Disconnecting the artist from representative roles or political instrumentalisation has always been an integral part of Natascha Süder Happelmann’s artistic practice. As early as 2004, the artist initiated the CV exchange platform bioswop.net, where concepts such as identity, representation, facts and self are renegotiated and the fetish of the “artist’s biography” is undermined.

Natascha Süder Happelmann is represented by König Galerie since 2003.