Nana Wolke

Nana Wolke (1994, Ljubljana, Sl) lives and works in New York, US. She holds an MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London and received a BFA with honors. She completed her final year of parallel study at Academy for Fine Arts and Design, Ljubljana through a study exchange at Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst, Leipzig (class of Prof. Michael Riedel).

Exploring issues related to perception and modes of apprehending space and time, Wolke’s series of works usually begins on film-like sets, where the artist records staged situations and improvised actions occurring in spaces spanning social hierarchies—from hotel rooms and private apartments to architectural complexes and public spaces. Wolke then assembles and edits both original and found footage to create distinctly monochromatic visual atmospheres and rhythms, which she translates into painting and sound installations.

Using commonplace lighting to model space and generate the grain, textures, and slippages of her images and sequences, Wolke employs a variety of devices chosen as much for their technical properties as for their social significance—e.g., CCTV equipment, home video camcorders, inventory cameras, intercom systems, etc. Considering the multiple viewpoints from which an action can be witnessed, her work conjures a tension between observation and control, often inviting viewers to navigate environments that interrogate notions of access and inclusion, whether economic, social, or security-related.

By constantly confronting the logic of live actions, cinema, and painting, Wolke ultimately seeks to analyze the progressive inextricability between actual and artificial realities.