Techno
Christie’s presents Thierry Noir: Techno, an immersive music-inspired installation by the iconic Berlin artist Thierry Noir, organised in collaboration with fabric— London’s legendary nightclub. Thierry Noir moved from France to Berlin in the 1980s and became the first artist to paint long stretches of the Berlin Wall on which he developed his distinct visual language. Since then, the artist became inextricably linked to the Berlin underground scene. Just as music is the heartbeat of the German capital, it pulses in every aspect of Noir’s life and work. He sees art as performance, often drawing parallels with the performative characteristic of a musician or a DJ. The colours, lines, energy and rhythm in his paintings mirror the hypnotic sound of techno music. Unveiling new paintings created exclusively for Christie’s over the past year, journey into Noir’s vividly coloured visual universe and be transported to the booming techno scene in Berlin.
Link: Christie’s Exhibition Page
Installation views
Charity and Paternerships
Thierry Noir, Perfect Light Over The Dancefloor, (180cm by 180cm, 2023)
This painting from the Techno exhibition was offered in the First Open: Post-War and Contemporary Art Online 3-17 October and achieved GBP £94,500 to benefit Girls Rock London (GRL).
GRL is an award-winning Hackney-based charity providing accessible music education projects for marginalised girls, women, trans, and non-binary people.
GRL programmes challenge intersectional gender inequity in the music industry and society, and are evidenced to improve musical skills and re-engagement in formal education/training/employment, whilst increasing participants’ wellbeing and self-esteem.
Sale proceeds will enhance GRL’s Youth Programmes, following increased demand from marginalised young people in need, due to the impacts of pandemic and cost of living crises.
Opening (fabric at Christie’s)
Techno Q&A
What was the techno scene like in Berlin in the 1980s?
West Berlin had a strong community of underground artists, musicians, designers, writers. We were underground fighters all together. Then when the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989, we realised that just on the other side of the Wall, to the east, there were also lots of others like us. They weren’t visible in the media, but they existed. The sudden combination of these two powerful groups created something special.
At that time the streets of East Berlin were full of abandoned or long-closed shops. All you had to do was open the door and set up your own nightclub, with no authorisation to open and no alcohol licence because the system of the GDR (German Democratic Republic) had just collapsed. First it was acid house then very quickly this movement became known in Berlin as Teckno. Written with one K, two Ks or three Ks, depending on the strength of the music. These places sometimes only stayed open for 2 or 3 months, then disappeared to continue later under another name. We were always on the move.
Describe your relationship with music?
Music is my inspiration. Just like art, music can change the world. Ever since I discovered Led Zeppelin in 1971, I’ve been listening to my favourite songs over and over again. From 1984 onwards I was part of a music group called Sprung Aus Den Wolken. The track that I sang the vocals on in French, ‘Pas Attendre’, was included by Wim Wenders in the soundtrack to the 1987 film Wings of Desire. We did a lot of touring in Europe, sometimes with up to five members of the group. We had a lot of success, but each time when I went back to Berlin after two weeks on the road performing each night, I realised that I was always very tired. I decided to give up my music career in 1988 to concentrate fully on painting.
It is an honour for me to collaborate with fabric London on this project. In 2019 I painted some walls inside the club and then there is also a painting of mine hanging at fabric in the entrance. DJs are the heroes of the night. They jam with notes like I jam with colours.