18 Questions With...
Nicolas Reiter

Nov 18, 2025
Interview image
Courtesy: Nicolas Reiter
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18 Questions With...
Nicolas Reiter

Nov 18, 2025
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Interview image
Courtesy: Nicolas Reiter
"18 Questions With" is an interview series featuring the artists, curators, and gallerists driving art's next wave.

Nicolas Reiter (Austrian; Vienna) represents a generation of artists working in the overlap of digital operations and physical matter. His practice spans manipulated photographs, wax forms, resin laminates, silicone, latex, thermoplastic binders and pigment-based surfaces. The focus is on the procedures, digital or material, that shift structure, modify image behavior, and adjust perception.


His works operate as states: surface logic, night smoke, pollen drift, dust sequence. Each piece follows a chain of transformations rather than performing expression.

Nicolas Reiter, *[SOFT SIGNAL](\artworks\d0770bab-055f-4e6c-239f-08de253af3c8)* (2024)

Nicolas Reiter, SOFT SIGNAL (2024)

Courtesy: Nicolas Reiter
Q01:
Did growing up in the mountains of Tyrol influence the way you see the world artistically?
A01:

Nothing romantic about it. Just too much sky to hide in and too many church bells trying to outshout God. You learn that clarity burns through illusion faster than heat.

Q02:
What role did your upbringing play in shaping your creativity?
A02:

Rural boredom taught me how nothing moved, so thought had to. Memory smuggles entire galaxies into the sound of a dripping tap.

Q03:
How would you describe your art to someone who’s never seen it before?
A03:

I wouldn't. Language arrives too late.

Q04:
What’s the story behind the title “Soft Signal” for your photograph series?
A04:

Because not every message wants to be understood. Some truths are just static in disguise.

Q05:
What role does photography play in your creative process before you start a painting?
A05:

It’s the autopsy of a moment. Light dies beautifully. I use it to remember what was never clear in the first place.

Q06:
What inspires you to create?
A06:

The pull of what hides inside things.

Q07:
Any specific topics or themes that are important for you to document?
A07:

Whatever makes sense for half a second, then doesn’t. The space between knowing and guessing. Systems pretending to be stable. Every structure is a soft collapse waiting for a name.

Nicolas Reiter, *[ELECTRIC SORRY BIRD BLUE](\artworks\edac2c08-a7e5-45e3-239e-08de253af3c8)* (2025)

Nicolas Reiter, ELECTRIC SORRY BIRD BLUE (2025)

Courtesy: Nicolas Reiter
Q08:
What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned about yourself through making art?
A08:

That I don’t end where I thought I did.

Q09:
What’s your favorite part of the art-making process: starting, in the thick of it, or finishing touches?
A09:

The middle. Where nothing works, which is how you know it’s alive.

Q10:
What’s a day in your studio like?
A10:

A cycle of order, noise, surrender. I build until the walls argue back. Motion, then quiet, then something in between.

Q11:
What motivates you to keep creating, even when it gets difficult?
A11:

I try to welcome it. Difficulty usually knows where to go.

Q12:
What continues to shape the way you see and create?
A12:

The brain hides its most violent equations in the taste of overripe fruit.

Q13:
How do you know when an idea is worth turning into an artwork?
A13:

When certainty leaves and the piece starts lying truthfully. When everything finally makes sense for the wrong reasons.

Q14:
Most recent purchase?
A14:

A triple espresso on ice strong enough to bring back the future.

Nicolas Reiter, *[EVEN SOUND HAS PLACES IT WON‘T GO PT. 1](\artworks\4403de08-5199-4f49-23a0-08de253af3c8)* (2025)
Courtesy: Nicolas Reiter
Q15:
What do you want people to feel when they see your work?
A15:

Whatever arrives first. Disorientation that feels earned. Like finding your own hand in a stranger’s pocket.

Q16:
How do you handle creative blocks or burnout?
A16:

I turn the machine off and remember there are more neurons in the brain than stars in the galaxy, and I’m just experiencing one of their thoughts. Birds do not care who invented the sky.

Q17:
What’s one thing you had to learn the hard way?
A17:

Control kills the pulse. Chaos edits better. Beauty is a consequence, not a plan.

Q18:
What’s next for you?
A18:

Almost structure, mostly luck…

All views expressed are solely those of the interviewee and do not represent UntitledDb.
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