
Rimbaud m’a apporté des abricots
Public intervention, lecture, video
While searching for a do-it-yourself store in the French city of Valence Klette comes upon a parking lot framed by an apartment building from the 1960s by the name of “Place Arthur Rimbaud“.
Animated by the suburban location of the place, the absence of a connection between the place’s name plate and the place itself as well as a certain action potential behind the written name Klette asks passers-by if they were willing to spontaneously recite a poem by Arthur Rimbaud.
Klette distributes leaflets to promote the participation in recitation days and talks to residents about possible actions.
The project’s video shows spontaneous lectures as well as free, scenic recitations of texts by Rimbaud performed by the participants on the place’s flower beds.

Variation on a stair
2014 Performance, CASS Gallery London
Ausgehend vom Bild des Widerstandes / Hindernisses zwischen Kommunizierenden oder eben Künstler und Rezipient in Form von Sprache, Technik, Geistiger und körperlicher Konstitution, wird ein solches allgemein bekanntes Hindernis konstruiert.
Grundlage ist der Versuch durch das Gehen auf einer provisorischen Treppe eine Erzählung zu entwickeln, bei welcher sich die Beobachter so in Relation zum Akteur setzen als würden sie selbst die Treppe gehen. Steigen und Fallen, Rythmus und Geschwindigkeit der Ausführung werden zur Methode bei eben diesem Versuch eine Verbindung zu den Beobachtern herzustellen.

Ungefährer Vorschlag
Ungefährer Vorschlag
in Above us only sky
Hospitalhof Stuttgart 2013
Above us only sky develops the exhibition themes using different media: The results are a series of small sculptures, paper collages as well as a staging for two speakers.
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Above us only sky – Schmitt und Chammer
Text and text collage, staging for two actors, approx. 40 min.
2013
In an interview Mies van der Rohe talks about the opposition to the construction of the Weißenhofsiedlung by local architects of the Stuttgarter Schule under participation of Le Corbusier, Mart Stam and other representatives of the “Neues Bauen”. He mentions two of the biggest adversaries: “Schmitt und Chammer” – meaning Paul Schmitthenner and Paul Bonatz, then leading representatives of conservative and tradition-oriented architecture.
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Above us only sky
Above us only sky
Subject of the exhibition project Above us only sky is the history of the Brenzkirche on top of Stuttgart Killesberg which was built in 1933 by Alfred Daiber in the style of the „Neues Bauen”. Upon insistence of the city council in 1938, shortly before the opening of the Reichsgartenschau in Stuttgart, the church got a saddleback roof on top of its flat roof.
Furthermore a rectangular corner was added at the building’s rounded northwestern corner, window apertures were walled up and the open steel construction of the clock tower was closed.
Above us only sky develops the exhibition themes using different media: The results are a series of small sculptures, paper collages as well as a staging for two speakers.

Something true, based on a nice story
2012 Performance, T-shirt sales, Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Basel, Switzerland
The focus of the performance is descriptions of the artist’s garden, accompanied by a presentation of 330 photographs that show details of the garden. These descriptions then evolve into a song for and about the garden, which is later transferred to a textile medium: after the performance, T-shirts printed with images of plants from the garden are sold. The price of the T-shirts is defined by the buyer.

Unions – an excerpt
2012 HD video 38:30 min.
The peculiarities of everyday culture do not only include aesthetic but also human phenomena. It is no exaggeration to apply this evaluation to the subject of Klette’s video installation “Einheiten – excerpt”. The man who has a white beard and speaks with a charming Hessian lilt that instantly quashes any doubts about his integrity uses the conversation as a eulogy to science. It is quickly apparent that the protagonist possesses little systematic but a kind of higher knowledge. Throughout his life, he has acquired extensive knowledge that is not finite and now forces itself into verbal expression. Klette has filmed the interview in the style of a television science show elevating his subject to the level of an established expert. The man philosophises on big bang theory with the same infectious intensity as on the meaning of life, the properties of carbon molecules or types of wild corn. Yes, you could classify this man as crazy, unwordly naïve and a dreamer but that would negate the powerful quality of his performance.
Excerpt from: “Spaß an der Sache - Über Florian Klette und sein Interesse an den Besonderheiten unserer Alltagskultur.” (Finding Fun – about Florian Klette and his Interest in the Peculiarities of Everyday Culture’) Dr. Daniel Hornuff, 2012 HFG Karlsruhe

Foucault and others
2009 Performance/Installation
Using a stencil, the artist traces letters onto a wall with his tongue. The writing is barely visible on the wall. The use of saliva in place of ink is an allusion to Michel Foucault’s discourse on originality. However with the words Foucault und so (Foucault and others), the artist is addressing his own and the viewer’s blind trust in science as well as the themes of applying certain labels to certain situations and people, and name dropping to achieve a particular desired response.

Molly, Bill and Wendy
2011 Video/performance 20:32 min. Video PAL
Consumer testimonials form the focus of this project – reports sent by email to an American software vendor. These are displayed on the company website for advertising purposes. The company primarily develops spyware that, once installed on a computer, enables the user to monitor other computers and entire networks, gaining insight into email exchanges and browser history. Almost every testimonial upholds the opinion that values such as reliability, honesty and trust can be fostered through controlled surveillance. The reports allow the observers to voice their views, provide an account of the discoveries they have made and speak of their satisfaction with the software product. In a similar way, companies keep their employees under surveillance, parents their children and partners each other. Each testimonial tells a different story, each in its own special way. The email texts are embodied by three actors and are summarised in a 20-minute performance. This creates dialogues between the characters that range from the absurd to the tragic. The colloquial style of the emails contrasts with the simplified form of the performance. For example, multiple emails are presented simultaneously or entire passages spoken in chorus.

Jockey dansen
2009 Video 15:34 min, PAL
While registering to take part in an exhibition at the Heidelberg Kunstverein, Florian Klette researched the biography of the then director Johan Holten and discovered that before becoming a curator, Holten had been a ballet dancer. Klette wrote to Holten asking if he would be willing to teach him a dance that he had performed himself. Prior to the exhibition, Klette received dance lessons from Holten. The focus of the exhibition is the application letter and a film that documents Klette’s progress before showing the finished choreographed piece.

The presentation
Die Arbeit entstand im Rahmen der Präsentationsreihe des Stuttgarter Künstlerhauses „Hier und Jetzt“ kuratiert von Michael Birchall und Axel Wider. Der Künstler entschloss sich mit den Strukturen der klassischen Künstlerpräsentation zu agieren und diese auf simple Weise zu transformieren. Vor dem blauen Hintergrund der Powerpointprojektion auf einem Stuhl sitzend, legte er die obligatorische Fragerunde am Ende von Präsentationen, gleich an den Anfang, ohne dem Publikum vorher etwas über seine Arbeit zu erzählen. Somit wurde der Rahmen für eine Konversation geöffnet, die weit über die Grenzen hinausgeht, welche durch die Praxis des Künstlers als Diskussionsgrundlage gesteckt worden wären. Durch den so gerichteten Fokus auf das Fragen des Publikums, wird die Koexistenz vom Interesse an künstlerischen Positionen einerseits und die Profilierung durch Wissen über zeitgenössische Kunst andererseits, offen legt.

Hot and cold works – (water at temperatures of 22.03°C, 35.00°C, 57.01°C, 70.00°C und 90.00°C)
2008 photo, Lambda print, diasec, 53.00 cm x 74.00 cm each
Water at various increasing temperatures was photographed in a fish tank. The lens focuses on a thermometer which is pulled out of the water shortly before the shutter release is pressed. This means the point of focus is in the picture but just as invisible on the images in this five-part series as the measured water temperature. The result is presented as a diasec (digital print behind Perspex on alu dibond.)

Having text
2009, Installation, Video, objects and text
Over a period of two weeks, the artist asked passers-by in front of the project centre Interventionsraum in Stuttgart to tell him about the last book they read. The accounts were recorded. Afterwards, the participants were required to complete a questionnaire on the topic of reading and asked to attribute their story to a particular object or to create one. Passers-by who could not create an object left precise instructions and sketches for other people to put into practice. In the course of the two weeks, three hours’ worth of texts was collected.

Picking up a match
2007 Performance, Three-channel video 07:32 min, PAL presentation, simultaneously on three monitors
11 artists attempt to pick up a single matchstick together, carry it across the room and set it down on a plinth.

One’s audience
MDF, carpet, quartz, electro-engine, 100 x 100 x 98cm, 2010
As part of the “hardcore/dècor” exhibition at Import/Export in Frankfurt, in collaboration with Julien Viala. A walk-in cube. On a podium inside is a piece of quartz that is rotating. When a viewer enters the cube, only his or her legs can be seen from the outside, merging with the sculpture and becoming a part of it.

No stranger to you and me
2010 Video/Performance
“No stranger to you and me” addresses a ritual where participants focus their mind on a well-known, popular piece of music. The music is then transformed across multiple levels. The performance is based around 15 CD players all playing the song In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins. Visitors are given a paper cup containing a mouthful of water. One after the other, the CD players start playing and the participants are asked to drink the water but not to swallow, keeping the water in their mouth for the duration of the song.

New works
Wood/paper, various sizes, in collaboration with Julien Viala, Künstlerhaus Heilbronn
New works plays on a common subtitle of large-scale art exhibitions. The label promises a resurrection of the artist, announces a continuation of his or her career and is a vehicle for securing a position on the market. White paper stretched over wooden frames and stacked in a way reminiscent of works in storage, some of them slipping off the pile, represent the possibilities of new future works of art whose blank canvasses already exist today.

Movements of money
2008, Video 13:22 min, PAL
The film “Movements of money” features people in city street scenes. The protagonists let others pass by as they listen to very loud music through headphones and move around freely to the beat, walking up and down, nodding their head or lightly tapping their feet. These figures are bankers and city employees who the artist has asked to dance outside their place of work to Pink Floyd’s song Money.

ISR at City Hall
Performance, Video 07:48 min, PAL
A group of German and American artists all involved in a three-month Institute of Social Research (ISR) project meets at San Francisco city hall to take part in an artistic performance. The nature of the performance is however not known to them. They are asked to arrange themselves like a choir. When given the signal, they must begin to sing a note, without turning it into a word and without first aligning the tone with the rest of the group. They must sing as loud as they can and after taking a breath, they must resume singing the same note. Each member was faced with the decision of contributing to a group harmony by adapting his or her note to match the pitch of a louder, more dominant one or of attempting to assert their own voice in the hope of establishing it as a reference point for others. The performance was eventually interrupted by police officers.

Interieurs
2009 - 2012
Series of photos from a permanent collection of Internet images. Mounted and framed carbon prints of photographs of homes taken from real estate web portals.

I work hard
2009 (Sound) Installation, Audio 02:27:42 min, mp3, shoes, speakers and amplifier
After realising that he had written more in his sketch book in 2008 than he had drawn, the artist decided to read the notes aloud in a recording lasting two and a half hours. The text, which in the installation is heard from inside an old pair of shoes belonging to the artist, includes the dimensions of sketches, ideas for new projects, general ramblings, poems, addresses, the times of public transport connections and appointments. The artist documents how his ideas developed, provides insight into his thoughts and shows the often banal starting point for complex projects. The degree of disclosure depends on the observer since only by listening for a longer period, can he or she make sense of the snippets and understand how the projects came to be. The themes of ingenuity and originality in combination with the power of the sketch book or diary of an artist are also addressed. In addition, the piece asks to what extent the characteristic of diligence can be expressed in artistic form and how this itself can be applied in the evaluation of art.

How to fight loneliness
2008 Video 03:24 min, PAL
In the film, a plastic bag worn on the artist’s head inflates and deflates as he breathes in and out. When the bag is inflated, a very simple sketch of a smiling face can be seen. When the bag deflates, the face shrivels and merges with the features of the person beneath it. As the air in the bag is consumed, the sketch becomes less visible.

how to built a box around one’s head
2007 Video 7:22 min, PAL
In the film accompanying this project, the artist constructs a wooden box around his head with utmost precision. His tools are a hammer and nails. Several attempts were necessary before the desired effect was achieved and filmed. The work is part of a series in which Florian Klette addresses the shapes of urban housing using a range of media, including collage, sculpture and performance art.

Curtain
MDF, metal, wood stain, height 3.20 m
The installation is reminiscent of the contours of a continuous wall. But the viewer can pass through the structure leading with his or her shoulder to fit through the narrow opening.

The shortest route
Since 2008, Picture book with 44 images
Continuous collection of photographs showing unsurfaced footpaths in urban spaces that shorten, avoid or improve existing traffic and transport connections.
365 x 3 – What it means to achive
2008/2009 Audio-CD, 21:33 min
Über ein Jahr hinweg nahm Klette jeden Tag unmittelbar nach dem Aufwachen einen von sich in den Laptop gesungenen Ton auf, den er drei Sekunden lang hielt. Dabei wurde der Ton nicht überlegt gesetzt, sondern dem Zufall körperlicher Faktoren überlassen. Klette begibt sich damit auf die Suche nach einem unbewussten Grundton, der frei von dialogischer Betonung ist und seine Prägung durch die Umstände des jeweiligen Zeitraumes erhält. Während der Durchführung verbat sich Klette das Anhören der zuletzt gesungenen Töne, um eine Angleichung der Tonstimmung auszuschließen. In der Soundinstallation folgen die Töne chronologisch aufeinander, wodurch sich ein Klangbogen über das gesamte Projektjahr spannt. Stellenweise scheinen ein paar aufeinanderfolgende Töne in derselben Tonlage zu sein, was sich mit dem nächsten Ton meist wieder ändert. Da Klette versuchte, jeden Tag dieselbe Tonlage zu treffen, ist das Projekt neben der Disziplinierung zur täglichen Fortführung auch als eine Reflexion des akustischen Gedächtnisses zu lesen.

As long as I held my breath
2009 installation/sculpture, Wood, 30 cm height, 30 cm width, length dependent on the artist (approx. 38 m)
Participation in a sculpture project where a wooden beam is erected whose length depends on how far the artist can walk without taking a breath. Based on the concept that sculpture is always an indicator of the physical and mental state of its creator, a wooden beam was erected in an urban setting representing the distance that the artist managed to walk while holding his breath.

The offer
2010 Performance Video 7:30 min.
Performance at the opening evening of the exhibition “hardcore/dècor” at Kunstraum Import/Export in Frankfurt. As part of the formal welcoming speech, the artist cuts into a three-tier cake. After a few minutes, he begins to throw pieces of cake directly at the surprised audience. The audience quickly separates into two groups: those who leave the room outraged and those who begin to pick up cake and throw it back at the artist in revenge, launching a cake fight set to John Lennon’s Instant Karma which is booming from the speakers.
The piece “The offer” explores the relationship between formality and etiquette at exhibition openings and art events and questions the expectations of producers and visitors in terms of art as a happening or party in an intellectual guise.