OLAF HOLZAPFEL | MICHAEL SAILSTORFER
Livie Gallery is proud to announce a duo show of Olaf Holzapfel and Michael Sailstofer, opening for the Zurich Art Weekend 2025. Both artists live and work in Berlin and have been in continuous exchange about their decades long artistic practices, but have until now never shown their work together. A permanent curiosity to examine cultural, social and physical phenomena is the underlying motivation for both. This similar point of departure results in very different artistic pursuits, while Sailstorfer‘s work often involve mechanical and chemical processes, Holzapfel remains tied to natural materials and crafts such as woodworking. Finally both create works that ask similar questions of tradition, temporality and perceived gains and losses.
The exhibition will be accompanied with a text by Damian Hurt.
The exhibition is part of Zurich Art Weekend.
Special opening hours for Zurich Art Weekend
Friday, June 13: 11am – 8pm
Saturday, June 14: 11am – 8pm
Sunday, June 15: 11am – 6pm
Find out more about the program during Zurich Art Weekend here.
Olaf Holzapfel (*1967, Dresden, lives and works in Berlin) studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste (HfBK) Dresden from 1996 to 2001, under the mentorship of Professor Ralf Kerbach. After completing his degree, he continued his studies as a master student with Professor Kerbach from 2001 to 2003.
Holzapfel’s early career was marked by several prestigious scholarships and fellowships. In 2001, he was awarded the Hegenbarth-Stipendium, and the following year, he took on the role of a Research Student at the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad, India, under the guidance of Professor Singanapalli Balaram. In the same period, Holzapfel was granted a DAAD scholarship and an Artist in Residence position at Columbia University in New York.
In 2014, Holzapfel received the Gerhard-Altenbourg-Preis in Altenburg, a significant award that acknowledged his distinctive approach to art. More recently, in 2024, Holzapfel was awarded the Zurich Art Prize, which he showcased for at Haus Konstruktiv in Zürich.
Michael Sailstorfer (*1979, Velden, Vils, Germany, lives and works in Berlin) studied from 1999-2005 at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich, and received his MA in Fine Arts from Goldsmiths College, London in 2004.
Sailstorfer reflects in his artistic practice on the fact that the fragile balance of our contemporary society – our social, political, ecological and cultural environment characterized by the finiteness of available resources – is subject to the constant threat of depleted energy sources. Both in a metaphorical and literal sense: Sailstorfer detaches various elements of the empirical world from the context of our everyday experience and presents them in formally precise sculptures as semantically redefined objects that question the principles of our contemporary culture. Driven by a fascination with biological and mechanical processes, Sailstorfer detaches natural, industrially produced, or found materials from their original context and transforms them into aesthetic settings that expand familiar questions about form and the nature of sculpture to include social, political, and economic aspects.
He has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the world, including the recent exhibitions To the People, Pejman Foundation, Tehran; Batterie, Livie Gallery, Zurich; Elektrosex, Tick Tack, Antwerp; Clearing, Proyectos Monclova, Mexico City; Heavy Eyes Dubai, Carbon 12, Dubai; Heavy Eyes Seoul, König Seoul; Plumbum, Livie Gallery, Zurich; Heavy Eyes, Avlskarl Gallery, Copenhagen; Tear Show, Galerie Perrotin, New York City; Clouds and Tears, Proyectos Monclova, Mexico City; Hitzefrei, König Galerie, Berlin; Wiesen bei Nacht, Kunstverein Wiesen, Wiesen; Michael Sailstorfer, CentrePasquArt, Biel/Bienne; Breakwater, Loushy Art & Projects, Tel Aviv; It might as well be spring, Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN, USA; Kopf und Körper, Museum Kurhaus Kleve – Ewald Mataré-Sammlung, Kleve; Forst, Vattenfall Contemporary, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin; Tornado, Public Art Fund New York, Doris C. Freedman Plaza, Central Park, New York City, amongst many others.
Image 1 (left): Olaf Holzapfel, Zwischen den Jahren, 2025, straw, wood, pigment, glue and varnish, 210 x 144 cm, detail. Photo: Studio Olaf Holzapfel
Image 2 (right): Michael Sailstorfer, Tank A1, 2025, aluminum, 180 x 130 x 65 cm, detail. Photo: Studio Michael Sailstorfer