Interview: Nina Schipoff
Luca Curci talks with Nina Schipoff, one of the Honorable Mention winners during the ITSLIQUID International Contest – 9th edition.

Nina Schipoff is a german interdisciplinary artist, based in Geneva, Switzerland, working in painting, video and photography. She graduated from the Geneva University of Art and Design (HEAD) in 2008 and obtained a postgraduate diploma in painting from the Geneva School of Stage Set Design in 2009. In her artwork she investigates the concepts of space, time, movement and light. She questions the invisible and visible traces of the interaction between man and nature and their ecological and geo- political impact in an accelerating world. Her photographic works document her research, being contemplated in her videos. Finally, her paintings constitute the playground for her poetic expression. Her narrations recount the fragments of a disappearing untamed paradise, like frozen memories of the complex equilibrium in the evolution of life. Utopia Nina Schipoff has presented her works in numerous exhibitions in Europe, the United States, Asia, India, Africa and the Middle East. Her work is part of the collection of the Bangkok National Gallery and other public and private collections.

Luca Curci- Which subject are you working on?
Nina Schipoff – Throughout my images I remind us of the beauty and fragility of the dynamic balance of our planet. At the same time, I wish to confront us with the world of tomorrow. Our major challenge today is creating the future we wish to live in tomorrow.

LC – How did you get to your current artistic practice?
NS – It was most natural process, since I have a genuine interest in landscape. When I moved to Switzerland in 1987 I realized the impact of the landscape on us and vice versa.

LC – How is being an artist nowadays?
NS – For me being an artist is reflecting and connecting to life, putting the focus on something meaningful and creating emotions to communicating my considerations and opinions. Being an artist is living in a permanent dynamic state or process of interactions between the world and me, a flow of input-reflection-output.Today there are many excellent artists as well as the interest in art is very high.But in most cases the artist is expected to work for free. She is supposed to be happy with the exposure of her art to the public.This reality makes living only on your art very difficult/impossible. That’s why the majority of artist have a second activity to earn real money. To progress in the art world the artist must be multi-talented: a good communicator, networker, promoter and manager. But despite this reality, I love what I am doing , I love being an artist and would not want to exchange it.

LC – How do you choose your subjects? Is it a reasoned or an instinctive process?
NS – I prefer to say we cross each other’s way and are intrigued. I need an intellectual as well as and instinctive trigger.

LC – Do you use art to express something in particular? Is it your medium of expression?
NS – Sure. To me art-making is a vast and complex multi-sensory process of transcribing my perceptions and reflections of the world into the artwork.

LC – How do you feel when you see your work completed?
NS – When is an artwork completed? This is a major question. I can conclude at many different stages of its creation and may always have a meaningful artwork. My question is, how much story do I wish to reveal to the spectator and to myself. It’s all about controlling and risk taking to manage the art piece and the spectator.I need a certain coherence and consistency between all the different elements of the artwork. But usually, I stop working on it before having solved all its problems, maintaining some friction. It’s the open questions which make us come back for another look, creating communication and emotion.