o.T. [Bluttropfen]

In Olaf Nicolai’s extensive body of work, he frequently draws on recurrent themes and methods of presentation to investigate history, nature, artifice, politics, and scientific findings. In O.T. [Bluttropfen], the artist has extracted the form of a single droplet of blood, found in Jan Baegert’s Flagellation of Christ (c. 1500—1525). Unifying elements from strikingly divergent periods, Nicolai has printed the droplet in various sizes on posters. The posters either cover the walls of an exhibition space, or, as is frequently the case, are available free for the public to take – in this sense, the participants engaging with the work almost take part in curious communion with the blood of Christ. Through this approach to examining and (re)presenting history, Nicolai creates a social space, repurposing a symbol of pain and crucifixion into a repetitive, and approachable, aesthetic element.

—Alicia Reuter