After completing his studies in painting and sculpture at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main as a master student of Prof. Georg Herold in 1998, Thomas Kilpper spent a year in London on a scholarship from the Hessian Cultural Foundation. It was there that he developed his passion for revitalizing historical sites with contemporary art. He carved over 80 portraits of people who were connected to this place in the past and present into the parquet floor of the vacant London "Orbit House". The portraits were then printed on various fabrics, papers and foils and exhibited hanging freely. Following this principle of "floor cuttings", in which the artist physically works on the floor of abandoned buildings for months, he has since created independent works of art in the tradition of woodcuts and linocuts. In a magical way, Thomas Kilpper "cuts" himself into the found substance of a historically charged location that serves as a printing block - such as the 800 m2 PVC floor of the former GDR Ministry for State Security in Berlin's Normannenstraße in 2009.

This place harbors a highly emotional aspect in connection with German reunification: Coming to terms with the past using the case study of the GDR's state security (Stasi), which still has a stirring effect within German society today. In his project "From State of Control", the artist combines this polarizing topic with a subjective selection of impressive images: the result is a kind of compendium, a picture of history in the context of state surveillance, repression and social conflict.

The project "From State of Control" uses impressive images to address the polarizing and disturbing aspect of state surveillance and repression and the resistance to it within German-German history. Complex topics such as colonialism, fascism, human rights and even the violent confrontation with the Red Army Faction are touched upon and stimulate critical debate in a kind of journey back in time.

In cleverly arranged, sometimes collage-like compositions, works such as "Champagne Reception with Erich Mielke, Erich Honnecker and Walter Ulbricht" (2009, linocut print on paper on canvas, 240 x 170 cm) evoke a sense of the past, "Willy Brandt and Günter Guillaume" (linoprint on textile, 250 x 180 cm) or "Mailbox surveillance by the MfS and Theo Saevecke" (2009, linoprint on paper on canvas, 260 x 160 cm), the viewer is given an individual "empathy" with history.

In the fall of 2010, Thomas Kilpper took part in biennials in Poznan and Lodz. Together with four other artists, he was awarded the Villa Romana Prize (Florence) in 2011.

2020

Köln Fragmente, Köln

2017

Atlantic Footprints, Haugesund Museum of Contemporary Art

2016

A Lighthouse for Lampedusa!, Bozar, Brüssel

2015

Avtrykk. Tresnitt fra fem århundrer, Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo

2014

Thomas Kilpper: 150 Years of Printmaking, Kunsthaus Hamburg

2012

ETNA CARRARA, Ludwig Forum Aachen

2012

Thomas Kilpper, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, København