Ian Waelder (b. Madrid, 1993) is an artist and publisher based in Frankfurt am Main. He’s currently part of the class by Haegue Yang at the Städelschule and has been part of the class by Peter Fischli and Mark von Schlegell’s Pure Fyction Seminar.
His practice explores the trace by isolating archival histories and language in relation to his biography, working through the poetics of the accident and the repurposing of the discarded. Waelder uses the following sentence as the whole statement of his work: “The noise, traces and marks are the results of an activity that did not necessarily expect to produce them.”
Among his solo exhibitions, we find ¿Por qué no son todos así, como yo debiera ser? (L21 Gallery, Palma, 2021), Teo’s Pink Panther (Las Palmas, Lisboa, 2019), We feel untied, but why? (curated by Sonia Fernández Pan at Centro Párraga, Murcia, 2018), Who Would Be Interested in an Empty Parking Lot? (The Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, 2018), The Noise, The Traces and Marks (LOCAL Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago de Chile, 2015) or After a hippie jump (L21 Gallery, Madrid, 2014).
His solo presentations in art fairs include ARCO Madrid (L21, 2021) and Artissima Torino (Present Future, L21, 2019), and has shown in two-person and group exhibitions at Spoiler (Berlin), Rolando Anselmi (Atina), Joey Ramone Gallery (Rotterdam), Ana Mas Projects (Barcelona), Galería Bacelos (Madrid), Salón (Madrid), L21 (Madrid and Mallorca), Sant Andreu Contemporani (Barcelona), Tabacalera (Madrid) and La Casa Encendida (Madrid).
He has participated in publications and readings as a member of Pure Fyction at the Kölnischer Kunstverein (Cologne), Portikus (Frankfurt), Johanne (Frankfurt), and Ashley (Berlin).
Artist in residence at HANGAR Lisboa (2016) and NauEstruch Sabadell (2015), in 2013 he received the Full Contact Prize at the photography festival SCAN Tarragona as well as the Honor Mention at the Ciutat de Palma Prize. His work is part of the collection of Es Baluard Contemporary Art Museum and Fundación Camper.
Parallel to his artistic practice, he’s the founder of the publishing house Printer Fault Press.