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Ralph Kistler

*1969 Munich/ Germany,
Works as visual artist and lecturer in Munich
Contact: check-in [add] subtours [dot] com

2013 Ph.D. Fine Arts, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
2006 Master of Public Art and New Artistic Strategies, Bauhaus Universität Weimar, Germany
2005 Diploma de Estudios Avanzados, Universidad de La Laguna
2003 Licenciado en Bellas Artes de la Universidad de La Laguna (Premio Extraordinario Fin de Carrera)
1993 Aprenticeship as Metal Designer, Germany

me

Ralph Kistler created a series of apparatuses and visual machines made with cheap or found objects, self built electronic circuits and programmed micro-controllers. In his works he questions the everyday life with ambiguous artworks. Getting more and more familiar with creative coding he discovered the possibilities of algorithmic art: the metaphor of the apparatus, which was a physical kinetic object, reappears in his recent works as algorithm that creates complex structures based on data processing. The symbiosis between conceptual creation and machine generated results reduces the direct artistic decisions in favor of a computational automatism and pushes the limits of sculpture towards new visual experiences.

He participated in international exhibitions and festivals like Piksel Festival in Bergen, Transmediale in Berlin, Japan Media Arts Festival in Tokyo or FILE Festival in Sao Paulo. Member of Professional Association of Visual Artists, BBK, München und Oberbayern.

Awards, Residences and Scholarships (selection)
2015
Artist in Residence, Seoul Art Space_Geumcheon, Seoul, South Korea
2011
New Face Award, Japan Media Arts Festival, Tokyo, Japan (with Jan M. Sieber)
2006
Second Prize, Bienal regional de Artes Plásticas, Tenerife
Scholarship of Investigation: Caja Canarias para Postgraduados convocatoria 2006

Group exhibitions (selection recent years)
2019
‘100 años: Lanzarote y César’, Museo Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo, MIAC, Arrecife, Spain
2018
Lichtrouten, Internationales Forum für Licht und Kunst, Lüdenscheid, Germany
2017
9º Encuentro Bienal ArteLanzarote 2017: Lancelot, 28º-7º, Museo Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo, MIAC, Arrecife, Spain*
"Scham. Hundert Gründe rot zu werden", Deutsches Hygienemuseum, Dresden, Germany*
2016
WRO 2015 on Tour, Kolonia Artystów, Gdańsk, Poland*
WRO 2015 on Tour, CYNETART Festival, Dresden, Germany*
28th Festival Les Instants Vidéo, Friche la Belle de Mai, Marseille, France*
2015
WRO 2015 "Test Exposure", 16th Media Art Biennale, Wroclaw, Poland*
Moving Studios, HOW Art Museum, Wenzhou, China*
Share Prize 2014, Temporary Museum, Turin, Italy
2014
14th International Contemporary and Video Art Festival “Waterpieces”, Riga, Latvia
OPEN SYSTEMS, GPL Contemporary, Vienna, Austria
2013
Tenerife Design Festival, TEA, Tenerife Espacio de Las Artes, Spain
FILE Festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil*
video_dumbo 2013, Eyebeam Art + Technology Center, New York, USA
Region0, Festival de Vídeo Arte Latino, Centro Rey Juan Carlos I de España, NYU, New York, USA
"Fantasmagorías. La presencia de lo ausente", Museo de Historia y Antropología de Tenerife, Spain
Pangaea 2013 Quito, Arte Actual Flacso, Quito, Ecuador*
Pangaea 2013 Cuenca, Galeria Proceso Arte Contemporáneo, Cuenca, Ecuador
Transmediale 2013, BWPWAP - Back When Pluto Was A Planet, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany*
2012
IV Festival Internacional de Videopoesía, Museo de Arte Latinoamérica de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Platine Cologne, Elektronische Kunst und alternative Spielformen, Köln, Germany
Pangaea 2012 München, Galerie der Künstler, München Germany*
15th Japan Media Arts Festival, National Art Center Tokyo, Japan*
2010
"Shadow Dance", Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands*
“PikselSavers”, Meta.Morf biennial, KIT Gallery, Trondheim, Norway
"On/Off", Circulo de Bellas Artes, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
2009
Das Festival zur Bauhausbühne,"Figurenräume – Raumfiguren",Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau, Germany
whiteclub #4, "Discoveries and Inventions", ehemalige Mediathek, Salzburg, Austria*
"Hier spricht das Mobiliar", Medienrundgang, Bauhaus Universität Weimar
"90 anni di Bauhaus", Goethe Institut Roma, Italy
"Crash!Boom!Bau!", Festival für Neue Szenografie, Theaterhaus Jena, Germany
2008
paraflows08: UTOPIA, MAK Gegenwartskunstdepot, Gefechtsturm Ahrenbergpark, Viena, Austria*
"25ft", IES Cabrera Pinto, La Laguna, Tenerife*
"8.1", Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria *
2007
"Hello Hackability", Piksel 07, Gallery 3.14, Bergen, Norway
Arco 07, Madrid*

Individual exhibitions and Public Interventions (selection)
2010 "Progeso y Bienestar",Casa-Museo Gutiérrez Albelo,Convento de San Francisco,Icod de los Vinos,Spain
2009 "Cuentos Chinos",Proyecto 60, TEA, Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Spain
2006 “Das ewige Verlangen der Deutschen nach dem Lebensgefühl des Südens”, Park an der Ilm, Weimar*
2002 Universidad de LaLaguna (sala de exposiciones de la facultad de ciencias de la información)

Teaching Experience (selection)
since 2021 Lecturer "Komplexes Screendesign", Diploma Hochschule, Fachbereich Gestaltung und Medien
2016 “Design and digital fabrication of complex parametric forms with Rhinoceros and Grasshopper.” University of LaLaguna, Tenerife, Spain
2014/15 Lecturer, Diploma Universitario “Tecnologías para la creación”, University of LaLaguna, Tenerife
2014 Introducción a Arduino, University of LaLaguna, Tenerife
2013 Introducción a Arduino, Arte Actual Flacso, Quito, Ecuador
2011 Introducción a Arduino y PureData (together with Rafael Hidalgo),University of LaLaguna, Tenerife
2010 Einführungskurs Arduino, Steuerungstechnik für Kunst, Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden, Germany
2009 Introduction to Arduino, TEA, Tenerife Espacio de las Artes
2006 Introduction to Physical Computing and Interactive Electronics, University of LaLaguna, Tenerife

Lectures (selection)
2018 "Bajo los adoquines, la playa: la comuna de Otto Muehl en Canarias", Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
2015 "La revolución devora a sus hijos. El caso de la comuna de El Cabrito", Simposium Internacional sobre Canibalismo y sociedad de consumo, UCLM, Ciudad Real, Spain
2014 "La comuna de Otto Muehl en Canarias: Accionismo Vienés y experiencia turística", Arquitectura: Lenguajes Fílmicos "Perspectivas comunes", Fundación Cristina Enea/ Tabakalera, San Sebastián, Spain
2013 “Fusión Arte y Tecnología”, Facultad de Ingeniería Electrónica/ IEEE, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito, Ecuador
2012 Artist Talk, Japan Media Art Festival, National Art Center, Tokyo
2011 “El Turismo y sus imágenes”, Seminario, Centro de Arte La Regenta, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
“Frentes marítimos”, Jornadas, Colegio de Arquitectos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife
2010 Pecha Kucha Night, Vol.2, Tenerife Design Festival
2009 Encuentro-Conversación entre Claudio Marrero y Ralph Kistler, TEA, Tenerife Espacio de las Artes

Curated Exhibitions:
2008 Interventiones 08 , “Between Memories and Expectations”, Guia de Isora, Tenerife.

*catalogue

updated: 06/2022