Nick HORTER | Dystopian Scholar

'My work examines pop-cultural narratives, with a particular focus on how power is articulated within pop and subcultural visual worlds—such as cartoons, video games, or collectible card games. I am especially interested in the intersection between overt fiction, which does not claim to be serious, and the subtly conveyed notions of an assumed reality. In my view, these visualized stories contribute to a process of “worlding,” that is, to an overarching narrative about the world. The visual languages of these media function as a highly accessible vocabulary, which is why I see it as my artistic task to interrogate them and to use them as a mirror for pressing contemporary issues—such as the simultaneous collapse of digital utopias alongside an escalating climate catastrophe.'

Between the homely and the uncanny, between hunting and (f)luffiness

Nicole Collignon’s cycle of poems engages with violence and play, interacting with the paintings of Nick Horter. A latent threat runs through the poems, softened and turned into humor through a mix of contemporary and earlier linguistic systems. In doing so, it also references a sales and play aesthetic of the 2000s. Some of the texts are placed directly beneath the paintings, evoking collectible cards through the combination of image and text.