D'Ette Nogle at Kunstverein Braunschweig

Drawing inspiration from the Kunstverein’s history, her encounters with Braunschweig, and a critical engagement with her home country, the United States, Nogle creates new works that make visible the temporal, material, and narrative layers of multiple places. Since the 1990s, Nogle has developed a time-based practice that explores social, political, cultural, and economic forces and the points where they converge. Her works question how historical influences shape thinking and perception, what constitutes a subject, and the meaning of artistic autonomy. For Nogle, an invitation from an art institution to realize an exhibition forms the starting point for new works: on-site research, conversations, existing materials, and even the timing of the invitation feed directly into the appearance and content of the show.

On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the United States this year, which has been one of the oldest democracies since the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the exhibition takes up the idea of parties. In English, the word “party” refers to two things: both a celebration and a political organization. Making productive use of this ambiguity, Let it R.I.P. focuses on the pleasure- and excess-oriented moments of parties. In installations that can be experienced physically, Nogle confronts communal gatherings, symbols of belonging, and consumption (of edibles and goods) with a tense atmosphere shaped by apocalyptic forecasts. The exhibition poses fundamental questions about the often contradictory human impulses between the constant pursuit of satisfaction and the equally human tendency toward self-destruction. A critical examination of the USA as a globally influential moral, political, and cultural force runs throughout the exhibition.

The consistent integration of elements from Nogle's life, as well as everyday materials and consumer goods, into the exhibition provides an opportunity to situate oneself within larger political and cultural narratives. The exhibition spaces thus appear as collage-like scenes of external and internal tensions—as situations in which the personal and the social overlap. The works question the idea of finality and connect the past to the present. In doing so, they are always oriented toward relation: they understand visitors as part of their fabric and suggest a positioning—both physical and mental. Let it R.I.P. invites audiences to move through these charged spaces and to negotiate the contradictions that define our contemporary lives.

Curated by Junia Thiede

Supported by Stiftung Niedersachsen, Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture, Volkswagen Financial Services AG, City of Braunschweig – Department of Culture and Science.

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D’Ette Nogle (*1974, United States) lives and works in Los Angeles. Recent solo exhibitions include Before Ye at Sweetwater (Berlin, 2025), Dime Store D’Ette at Derosia (New York, 2024), Materialoutpost: Incountry at the American Legion Post 206, organized by Hannah Hoffman (Los Angeles, 2024), and ˙|˙ at Sweetwater (Berlin, 2020). Her work has also been included in group exhibitions at the Franz Hals Museum (Haarlem), Fluentum (Berlin), Halle für Kunst (Lüneburg), Bonner Kunstverein (Bonn), and the Hessel Museum (Annandale-on- Hudson), among others; she was also included in the 2012 edition of the Made In LA biennial at the Hammer Museum (Los Angeles) and Sonsbeek 2001 (Arnhem).