Born in 1939 in Northern Germany, Rolf Julius first followed a classical training in Fine Arts.
In the 1970s, he gradually discovered certain contemporary composers (in particular La Monte Young, at festivals and on the radio) and integrated sound into his first photographic pieces in 1975.
He then started getting more involved in acoustic performances that he created in very different contexts, outside (in the desert, in trees, on water, on facades of buildings, on window panes, etc.) as well as in closed spaces (galleries, museums, etc.).
Rolf Julius' practice was based on a double approach, at the boundaries of visual art and musical creation.
As a sculptor, Rolf Julius was also a fully-fledged musician, creating electro-acoustic compositions, giving concerts and performances where improvisation often played an important part.
In the early 1980s, Rolf Julius had already laid the foundations for a body of work in which acoustic space was the priority, constantly looking to create a relationship with the space of the world, and nature.
The years 1983-1984 marked a significant moment in the artist's life. He moved to New York, where he met most of the important artists and composers involved with the experimental avant-garde, namely John Cage, but also Takehisa Kosugi. His work, on returning to Europe, found a new audience.
But it was in Japan that his work would be swiftly recognised and given an enthusiastic welcome: the role of void in the artist's work was akin to this culture.
His practice is close to minimal art, insofar that the materials themselves have a meaning; Rolf Julius explained that a piece of iron and a piece of music represented the same thing for him.
"I create a musical space with my images. With my music, I create an illustrated space. Images and music are equal. They come in contact with the mind of the viewer and the listener and inside, something new comes of it." (1)
Rolf Julius' acoustic sculptures develop, through an economy of means, a discrete aesthetic at the limit of the visible and the audible.
"Delicate, poetic, Rolf Julius' work doesn't impose itself, it requires the viewer-listener's great attention. Music is looked at. Pigments tremble, sand undulates, paper quivers, water shivers. One has to experiment the artworks. Go from one to the other, anticipating fragile and fascinating acoustic landscapes where technique, music, sounds, silence, and materials interpenetrate miniature electronic gardens." (2)
Julius's work was shown for the first time in France in 1980, in Paris (Ecouter par les yeux, ARC, Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris), then at the La Criée Art Centre in Rennes (1990). The artist has also been regularly exhibited in Grenoble (Broken Music, Le Magasin, 1989-1990), Lyon (Musique en scène, 1996), Dijon (FRAC Bourgogne, 2001) and Paris (Lara Vincy Gallery, 1997 and 2002) in solo shows, and in contemporary music festivals. The largest exhibition of his work was at the FRAC Limousin in 2003. His works appear in many public French collections.
His work has been represented by the gallery Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico since 2005. You can consult his complete archive on request.
(1) Interview of Rolf Julius by Regina Coppola, excerpt from Large Black (red), University Gallery, Fine Art Center, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2001.
(2) Cécile Broqua