Robert Lippok
Robert Lippok has been testing art’s outermost edges for over four decades. His background at the costume department of the German State Opera in Berlin, the studies at the School of Art and Design Berlin-Weissensee, and the pioneering band projects Ornament und Verbrechen (1983) and To Rococo Rot (1995 – 2014) informed a transversal practice spanning from music composition, visual art, stage design, performance and costume design.
Experimenting with a wide range of music technologies, found objects and self-built instruments, Lippok’s pieces – whether an album or an interactive installation – have always transcended mere self-expression to address the role of art as a space-carving and architectural practice. Through the years, his works have been exhibited in the Palais de Tokyo, Neue National Galerie, Hamburger Bahnhof, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Haus der Kunst in Munich, Gropius Bau and the 60th Venice Biennale amongst others.
Anushka Chkheidze
Anushka Chkheidze, born in 1997, is a Georgian artist. Growing up in the small village of Kharagauli, she started singing in a choir at the age of 11, and she describes that time as magical. She believes that her childhood years had a strong influence on her music.
In January 2019, she released her first tracks on the compilation Sleepers Poets Scientists, curated by Natalie Beridze, followed by her debut album Halfie in April 2020. Her second album, Move 20-21, was created during the pandemic and addresses the absence of physical movement and interaction with other people. It was released in February 2021. Immediately after a residency in Berlin as part of the Goethe-Nachwuchs programme, in collaboration with the Popkultur Festival 2022, she began a two-year Master’s programme in Music Design at the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU) in the Netherlands. Chkheidze continues to collaborate with choirs, resulting in a commission to compose for the highly regarded Gori Women’s Choir in Georgia at the Swiss-Georgian festival Close Encounters.