Artist Statement/ Biography

The artist duo REICHRICHTER from Cologne consists of Rebekka Reich and Marcus Vila Richter. The content framework of REICHRICHTER’s work focuses on the questioning of peoples’ relationship to the nature of social spaces and their transience.

There is a strong connection between dwelling and the possibilities of consciousness and power of judgement.

With their projects, REICHRICHTER investigates in the field of space and its narrative dimensions. They ask ourselves how do basic narrative structures affect the conception and understanding of space.

REICHRICHTER's approach emphasizes the dialogue as a constitutional artistic mode of operation. They want to create complex, ambiguous research processes about the nature and transience of places and non-places. Their work relates to humans and their living environment. They are using community based art methods to explore the urban as an archive of the social use of form.

Sites are approached and scanned indirectly by us, similar to the operation of a sonar. The reflected waves of the sonar thus consist of the subjective comments of residents, of the people in these areas.

In their projects they are applying this developed method for the production of new material as well as including existing film and sound clips, which originate from an archive, created by REICHRICHTER on the basis of their taxonomic arrangement. The main forms here, audio and video, evoke theoretical questions about the truth of media as well as looking beneath the surface of signifiers.

Following the idea of a fluid multiplicity of forms of materializations of the distributive unity of an art work, they use video, audio, drawing, print, object, art-book and text in order to treat one conceptional gist. Directing focus on space is REICHRICHTER's unique way of articulating their own silent critique.

REICHRICHTER is a transnationally working artist duo, based in Cologne (D), consisting of Rebekka Reich and Marcus Vila Richter. They received Master of Arts Degrees in Architecture at Technical University Braunschweig, Scenic Design at Zurich University of the Arts and Cinematography at University of Applied Science Dortmund. The skills accrued in their individual careers in architecture, dance, scenography, camera and filmmaking merged pertinently, heightening their sensibility for space and its narrative. 2012 first work „Zurich“, LOOP Video Art Fair, Barcelona, awarded as best work, and acquisition by the Foundation of MACBA and private collector. Since 2014 work stay for 12 month in Taiwan and China at different artist residencies. 2015 awarded with Da Wang Fellowship Award, Shenzhen, China.