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 60th Venice 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
- 2024 Group exhibition, Feld, La Certosa, German Pavillion 2024 – 60th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Vinezia
- 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