Natascha Süder Happelmann is an algorithmic variation of the name of the artist, Natascha Sadr Haghighian, based on auto-corrections and misspellings by public institutions. Haghighian's decision to contribute to the German Pavillon at the Venice Biennale under this pseudonym, and to appear at public events only when accompanied by a speaker and wearing a large, rock-shaped head mask made out of polyester resin, arose as a result of her consistent endeavor to sidestep fixed categorizations, as well as the strong tendency to focus on the figure of the artist typical of the art market. Instead, she focusses the gaze on the art itself. With this aim, in 2004, she formed an online exchange market for artist's biographies (bioswop.de). During the course of her performative presence at the Venice Biennale, Happelmann countered questions posed by the Süddeutschen Zeitung such as: “Why did you become an artist? Who are your role models? What does the German Pavillon mean to you? How important is your migrant background for your work? How important is success in the art market for you?”, answering these questions with graphic drawings which render sound visible. The n.b.k. here exclusively offers the five-part series of prints which arose in this context.

Natascha Süder Happelmann (b. 1970 in Berlin, lives and works in Berlin) is a choreographer, performer, filmmaker and producer. She studied film and media art at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne with VALIE EXPORT, as well as at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with Lin Hixon under a DAAD scholarship. She co-founded the Berlin theater and performance group machina eX and is a founding member of Fernwärme, a performance program of the Berlin project space Ausland.*

(*This biography was compiled by bioswop.net.)