Olaf Nicolai

East German born Olaf Nicolai is among the 53 artists taking part in the 8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art. He is also among curator Juan A. Gaitán's six member "Artistic Team".

Atop this post is an image of Nicolai's sculpture Portrait of the Artist as a Weeping Narcissus (2000), as exhibited at the 2002 Biennale of Sydney. Inside the Berlin Biennale catalogue (still under wraps) is a fiction Nicolai wrote through the eyes of scholar Péter Szondi.

A couple days ago Nicolai sent me his text, which begins with Szondi and an aerial photo of a failed post-1989 (East) German shopping mall.

Szondi has studied the aerial photograph closely -- the access road to the site is not easy to find. he is supposed to be meeting the site manager, Herr Falkner, at the mall's rear entrance. he also has his mobile number.  but he is reluctant to phone to get directions. his conceit makes him smile.

Recall how early in Chapter 1 of Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), Stephen "turned to the flyleaf of his geography and read what he had written there; himself, his name and where he was.

Stephan Dedalus
Class of Elements
Clongowes Wood College
Sallins
County Kildare
Ireland
Europe
The World
The Universe"