Under the Name Natascha Süder Happelmann, Natascha Sadr Haghighian Will Rep Germany at 2019 Venice Biennale

It must be said that German’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale certainly has not been boring of late. In 2017, Anne Imhof took home the Golden Lion, the show’s top prize, for a thrilling performance piece there, and in 2015, a few artists represented the country, including Hito Steyerl, whose immersive video work Factory of the Sun was one of the year’s highlights.

Now the organizers of the German pavilion have announced that the country will be represented at the 2019 edition of the biennale by Natascha Süder Happelmann, for whom there are no records online—which is because that name is actually a pseudonym adopted by the relentlessly shape-shifting artist Natascha Sadr Haghighian.

Complicating matters further, Happelmann has apparently designated someone named Elene Duldung, who also has no records online, to serve as the spokesperson for her work. In the prepared text of a speech for the announcement, which was made today in Berlin, Duldung said, “Over a period of around thirty years, a collection of name variations has been accumulating in the artist’s memory and in other places. The different versions have arisen mainly as a result of misspelling and autocorrect when the artist was addressed by public authorities. . . . Following careful analysis of the variations available, a particular version of the name was selected.”

Haghighian, whose work takes the form of sculptures, installations, and research-intensive projects, often with incisive political underpinnings, introduced a website in 2004 called bioswop.net, which allows people to borrow elements of CVs. Those hunting for biographical information on her will, not unsurprisingly, end up frustrated. Her Wikipedia entry, for instance, documents the conflicting information she has compiled about her birth: “born Budapest, 1987 or Sachsenheim, 1968 or Australia, 1979 or Munich, 1979 or Tehran, 1967 or London, 1966 or Iran, 1953.”

Also not surprising, information about the artist’s plans for the pavilion are scant. In her prepared remarks, Duldung said, “We are sure you will understand that, at this juncture, we are unable to give you any further information concerning the presentation at the German Pavilion. In this respect, we must all be patient until May 2019.”

Natascha Sadr Haghighian, pssst Leopard 2A7+, 2013. COURTESY KONIG GALERIE

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