German artist Nina Annabelle Märkl creates work that sits at the intersection of drawing, sculpture, and installation. Her artistic approach is based on an expanded view of drawing, not as a mere line on a two-dimensional surface, but as a medium with spatial and conceptual depth. She describes it succinctly: “Drawing is a potential space, sculpture is a multitude of drawings that open up further, invisible spaces.” This perspective reflects a layered and thoughtful engagement with the medium, considering both its formal and conceptual aspect.
Nina’s distinctive artistic approach is reflected in the very choice of the exhibition title. The term permeability suggests the absence of fixed or rigid boundaries. This prompts us to consider: what kind of sculpture allows for such fluidity between mass and space? It is, of course, the type described in the opening quote – a sculpture composed of drawings. For the exhibition, the artist arranges spatial compositions using metal structures, to which she attaches drawings on irregularly shaped canvases, secured with cords. Constructed from industrial installation pipes, these supports are primarily intended to hold the drawings. Yet, on a visual level, they themselves become spatial line drawings. The raw, utilitarian nature of the materials, along with their billboard-like forms, subtly introduce allusions to the urban everyday into the artistic composition.
Throughout Nina Annabelle Märkl’s work, different forms and elements intertwine on multiple levels. This is especially apparent in the drawings that form the focal point of the exhibition. Executed in ink on specially treated canvases, their smooth, polished surfaces recall plastic-coated advertising tarpaulins. However, their form, specifically their contours, emphasise their “soft”, organic quality, giving the objects an appearance that ultimately resemble tanned animal hide. The imagery exists in a fluid space between figuration and abstraction, merging the mechanical with the organic, and the human with the robotic. Recurring elements such as human body parts, most commonly eyes and elongated arms, alternate with machine parts, both digital and analogue devices, tools, and botanical ornaments. At times, these forms may resemble traditional sculpture or even a pedestal, but they swiftly evolve into complex biomorphic entities. The artist builds this rich imaginative world to expose the complexity and layered nature of our existence. The overlapping of reality and imagination reflects an ongoing interplay where Märkl navigates the apparent contradictions of modern life, portraying the intertwining of inner and outer worlds, the tangible and the invisible. The work calls for the observer’s engagement, as each movement alters the perception of what lies before and around us. In much the same way as life itself.
Jasminka Babić
Nina Annabelle Märkl was born in 1979 in Dachau, Germany. In 2009, she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where she studied under Stephan Huber. Since 2009, she has worked as a freelance artist, and from 2011 she has been teaching at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich. Her work has been shown extensively in Germany and abroad, most recently in the solo exhibition “Ambivalence” at the Castello 780 gallery in Venice, as well as in the group exhibition “Von Symbionten und Monaden” at KV Kärnten in Klagenfurt. She has also taken part in various residency programmes across Europe and the United States, including Szczecin in Poland (2009), Düsseldorf (2010), ISC New York (2015), and in Japan at Yamakiwa Gallery in Niigata and 500 Meter Museum in Sapporo (2019).
The exhibition is open until 27 July, 2025.
The exhibition is financed by the City of Split and Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia.