About

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 Athens Biennale amongst others.

Lippok’s ever-present interest in collaborative and interdisciplinary projects catalysed joint ventures with international artists including Doug Aitken, pianist Ludovico Einaudi for an extensive tour, choreographer Constanza Macras , opera director Sebastian Baumgarten, and multimedia artist Julian Charrière.

Known for his long-standing contribution to raster-noton’s catalogue through timeless avant-techno releases, notably “open close open” (2001), “redsuperstructure” (2011), “Applied Autonomy” (2018), Lippok’s live appearances have been presented at worldwide festivals and venues such as ADE, Berghain, CTM, Funkhaus Berlin, MUTEK, Sonar, and Unsound.

Robert Lippok’s dedication to research has engaged him with renowned institutions for creative investigation and education, being part of the curatorial board of the spatial audio system 4DSOUND, a member of the board of trustees of the Spatial Sound Institute Budapest, and a fellow of Olafur Eliasson’s Institut für Raumexperimente in Berlin. From 2017 to 2022, Lippok was a tutor at New York University in Berlin, where he taught the production class “Experiments in the Future of Production and Performance”

COMPOSITIONS

2024 Transindigenous Assembly, documentary directed by Joulia Strauss
2023 Drama, dance theatre directed by Constanza Macras, Volksbühne Berlin
2022 Composition and sound design for a competition entry, National Archaeological Museum Athens, David Chipperfield Architects Berlin
2022 Spin, AV performance, LEV Matadero festival, Madrid, Spain
2022 Der Würgeengel, theatre play directed by Sebastian Baumgarten, Volkstheater, Vienna
2022 GAS, theatre play directed by Sebastian Baumgarten, Staatsschauspiel Dresden, Germany
2021 Tschewengur – eine Wanderung mit offenem Herzen, film directed by Sebastian Baumgarten, Gorki Theater, Berlin
2021 4am, six hour performance, Tonlagen – Dresdner Tage der zeitgenössischen Musik, Hellerau – European Centre for the Arts, Germany
2021 Attitudes, performance directed by Sebastian Baumgarten, 6th Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art, Ekaterinburg, Russia
2021 The Future, dance theatre directed by Constanza Macras, Volksbühne, Berlin
2020 Towards No Earthly Pole, video installation by Julian Charrière
2020 pʁoːtoˌtyːp, new works for computer-operated pipe organ, Aggregat – Gamut inc, Auenkirche, Berlin
2020 Songs of the Transindigenous Assembly, performance with Joulia Strauss, Down to Earth, Gropius Bau, Berlin
2019 Schönheit und Vergänglichkeit, documentary directed by Annekatrin Hendel
2019 Der Palast, dance theatre directed by Constanza Macras, Volksbühne, Berlin
2019 Negative Space, AV performance with Pedro Maja, Rayo Festival, Matador Madrid, Spain
2019 Glacier Music, environmental project, Tblisi Georgia and Yerevan Armenia
2019 Cruzifixus, concert, Inner Spaces, San Fedele, Milan, Italy
2018 Solid Gold, poetry performance, Institut für Raumexperimente, Ras Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
2018 3CZ1234, light installation Gabriela Prochazka, Signal Festival of Lights, Prague, Czech Republic
2018 Psychic Waveforms, concert, MUTEK, Barcelona, Spain
2018 Varieties of Impact, concert, Polygone, Vancouver, Canada
2018 Outsiders, Amin Gulgee Gallery, performance, Karachi, Pakistan
2017 The Pose, dance theatre directed by Constanza Macras, Akademie der Künste, Berlin

2016 Untergang des Egoisten Johann Fatzer, theatre play directed by Tom Kühnel and Jürgen Kuttner, Deutsches Theater, Berlin
2016 Album, dance theatre directed by Constanza Macras, Festspielhaus Hellerau, Dresden, Germany
2016 Sator and Peripheral Laps, San Fedele Musica, Milan, Italy
2016 Sky Machine, concert, MUTEK, Tokyo, Japan
2016 Kaya Cynara, art installation by Hans-Henning Korb, Empty Gallery, Hong Kong
2015 Nauru, performance by Tone Avenstrup, Kristiansand, Norway
2015 Atrato, video installation by Fernando Aries, Sinfonia Tropico, Museo Nacional de Colombia, Bogota
2015 A-B-A-B-A , Institut für Raumexperimente, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
2014 Daylightastronomy, concert, MUTEK, Montreal, Canada
2014 Floating Point, AV performance with Dimitri Delcourt, Scéne du lac, Geneva, Switzerland
2014 24h Dahlem, video installation by Clara Jo, Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin
2014 The Persistence of Memory, AV concert with Nino Ererra, Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin
2014 Béton Brut, Archipel, art installation by architect Arno Brandlhuber, NBK, Berlin
2013 Plug-In City, concert, Akademie der Künste, Berlin
2010 Narita Field Trip, video by Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani
2010 Snow Division, video by Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani
2010 The Line, video by Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani
2008 Spelling Dystopia, video installation by Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani
2007 Digital Mass, Festival of Sacred Music, concert, Santa Maria Della Scala, Milan, Italy
2005 Radio Solaris, 10 channel video installation by Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani, YCAM, Japan
2005 En Fremmed Kropp, performance by Tone Avenstroup, skmu, Kristiansand, Norway
2004 -273,15ºC = 0 Kelvin, video by Nina Fischer & Maroan el Sani
2004 I need More, dance theatre directed by Enzo Cosimi, Auditorium Parco della Musica , Rome, Italy
2003 Real Good Time, dance theatre directed by Enzo Cosimi, Termini, Rome, Italy
2002 Eisfeld, composition (to rococo rot) for an art installation by Olaf Nicolai
2002 New Ocean, video installation by Doug Aitken
2001 Kölner Brett, to rococo rot, music for a building, Arno Brandlhuber, B&K+, Cologne, Germany
2000 On The Way To The Peak Of Normal, video installation by Takehito Koganezawa

EXHIBITIONS

2023 Full dome installation, O Futuro do Ser, Praça Mauá, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2022 Group exhibition, Broken Music Vol. 2, 70 Years of Records and Sound Works by Artists, Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
2022 Sound installation, Our Earth is their Moon, our Moon is their Earth, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany
2022 Sound installation and concert, Rainforest IV, St. Elisabeth Kirche, Berlin
2021 Sound installation, Objects and Bodies, TECHNO WORLDS, Touring exhibition realized by the Department of Visual Arts at the Goethe-Institut Munich
2021 Symphony X, The Fine Hands Show, Ploshchad Mira museum center, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
2019 Full dome installation, Non-Face, with Lucas Gutierrez, The New Infinity, Berliner Festspiele
2019 Sound installation Seven Movements for an Autopoietic Machine, Raster-Labor, CTM Festival, nGbK, Berlin
2019 Sound installation, Infinité ∞² – für Éliane Radigue, Galerie Weisser Elefant, Berlin
2017 Video installation, Truck Tracks, Rimini Protokoll, Ruhrtriennale, Essen, Germany
2017 Sound installation, What Is Dance?, Festival of Future Nows, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
2015 Group exhibition, Ornament und Verbrechen, Geniale Dilletanten, Haus der Kunst, Munich
2015 Sound installation, Listening Post, LENTOS Museum, Linz, Austria
2014 Group exhibition, Molding Versions into Reality, Grey Sheep project space, Berlin
2014 Sound installation, Addis Tape Club, Jan Meda, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
2014 Sound installation, By the Niger River, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin
2011 Sound installation, Knitting Smoke, Halleluhwah! hommage à CAN, group show, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin
2007 Solo exhibition, mixed media installation, Faustroll, with Dietrich Sagert, Staatsgalerie Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin
2006 Art installation, Tannover, with Ronald Lippok, Wagner Hörschule, HAU 1, Berlin
2006 Sound installation together with Muu Blanco Passage Sonoro Caracas – Berlin, Sala Mendoza, Caracas, Venezuela
2005 Solo exhibition, Foggy Boxes, Galerie Wohnmaschine, Berlin
2004 Sound installation, Face the Space, group show, Westfaelischer Kunstverein, Münster
2004 Solo exhibition, fieldrecordings, Galerie Wohnmaschine, Berlin
2002 Sound installation, Audio Lab, Palais De Tokyo, Paris, France
2002 Sound installation, Foerderkoje, Art Cologne, Germany
2002 Installation, Fruits of the Loom, with Ronald Lippok, curated by Carsten Nicolai, Vox, Chemnitz, Germany
2001 Solo exhibition, Steady, Galerie Wohnmaschine, Berlin
1995 Solo exhibition, to rococo rot, with Ronald Lippok, Galerie Weisser Elefant, Berlin

DISCOGRAPHY

Robert Lippok

2024 Open Close Open, Morr Music
2023 What is Dance?, Singuhr
2022 E with Zora Kreuzer, Flipping the Coin
2018 Applied Autonomy, raster-media
2016 Open Close Open, Flau
2011 Redsuperstructure, raster-noton
2011 B.I.L.L. with Jaki Liebezeit, Jochen Irmler und Clive Bell, Klangbad
2011 Knuckleduster with Debashis Sinha – Nuukoono, Gustaff Records
2009 Whitetree with Ronald Lippok and Ludovico Einaudi – Cloudland, Ponderosa
2006 Robot, Western Vinyl
2005 Timeline with Jesse Osborne-Lanthier, Geographic North
2005 Tesri with Barbara Morgenstern, Monica Enterprise
2004 Dancing in your Head, Soundtrack, Shiseido Corporate Culture Department Tokyo, Japan
2004 Falling Into Komëit, Monika Enterprise
2002 Seasons with Barbara Morgenstern, Domino Records
2001 Open Close Open, raster-noton
1999 Theatermusik with Bo Kondren, Ronald Lippok, Bernd Jestram, Crosstalk
1998 Der Jasager und der Neinsager, Thalia Theater Halle

to rococo rot

2024 The Amateur View, City Slang
2022 John Peel Sessions, City Slang
2014 Instrument, City Slang, Berlin
2010 Speculation, Domino Records
2008 ABC 123, Domino Records
2006 Taken from Vinyl, Staubgold
2004 Hotel Morgen, Domino Records
2001 Music is a Hungry Ghost, City Slang
2001 Kölner Brett, Staubgold
1999 The Amateur View, City Slang
1997 Veicolo, City Slang
1996 to rococo rot, Kitty Yo

Ornament und Verbrechen

2012: Ornament und Verbrechen, n.b.k.
2006 Taymur Streng | Ornament & Verbrechen – Das sentimentale Ufo, Compilation, Spannung. Leistung. Widerstand. Magnetbanduntergrund DDR 1979-1990
1995 How many angels dance on the head of a pin, 7″, self-published
1994 Super De Luxe Transistor Radio, self-published
1992 Tunes EP, MCD, Aus Lauter Liebe
1988 Rotmaul, self-published
1985 untitled, Taymur Streng | Ornament & Verbrechen, self-published
1985 Damned | Energy , Live in Paradise, Compilation, Good Noise Records
1984 Aufruhr zur Liebe | Ornament & Verbrechen, Assorted Nuts

STAGE AND COSTUME DESIGN

2020 Stage, video and costume design, Electric Saint, directed by Jonathan Moore, score by Steward Copeland, Nationaltheater Weimar, Germany
2017 Stage design, Dickicht, directed by Sebastian Baumgarten, Gorki Theater, Berlin
2008 Stage design, Tosca, directed by Sebastian Baumgarten, Volksbühne, Berlin
2006 Stage design, with Ronald Lippok, Orest, directed by Sebastian Baumgarten Komische Oper, Berlin
2004 Stage design, with Valerie von Stillfried, Jenufa, directed by Sebastian Baumgarten, Meininger Staatstheater, Germany
2003 Costume design, Nora, directed by Alexander Lang, Landestheater Linz, Austria
2002 Stage and costume design, Parsifal, directed by Sebastian Baumgarten, Richard Wagner, Staatstheater Kassel
1998 Stage and costume design, Salome, directed by Sebastian Baumgarten, Schauspielhaus Salzburg, Austria
1994 Stage and costume design, with Sally Carlson, Andere Räume, directed by Sebastian Baumgarten, Hans Otto Theater, Potsdam, Germany

RESIDENCIES | SELECTION

2018 Electronic Studio Radio Belgrad, Serbien
2016 EMS Studios, together with Klara Lewis, Stockholm, Schweden
2015 Más Arte Más Acción, Chocó, Colombia
2012 Institut für Raumexperimente, Olafur Eliasson. UDK Berlin

RADIO WORKS

2021 Phase Transition, Beshknow Radio, Teheran, Iran
2005 Parallele Linien, Radio Copernicus | ZKM Karlsruhe
2002 Marbel und Matrikel, with Tone Avenstroup, Intermedium 2, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
2002 Bear Frames, Bayerischer Rundfunk, ZKM Karlsruhe
2000 Selbstläufer, with Kathrin Röggla, Bayerischer Rundfunk
2000 Blue Sky (to rococo rot) Soundstories | Materialmeeting, Bayern2radio
1999 callanetics, Audiolounge, Bayrischer Rundfunk | Akademie der Künste, Berlin
1998 Prima Leben und Sparen, with Ronald Lippok and Andreas Neumeister, Bayrischer Rundfunk