Kelly Nipper

Born 1971 in Edina, Minnesota
Lives and Works in Los Angeles, California

Kelly Nipper is an artist who “uses choreography to shape [her] ideas about space and time and weather and emotions.” She works with videos, installations, and live performances to explore the moving human form through deliberate, ritualized gestures. Nipper often integrates detailed notation systems and vocal directives with choreography and repetitive movements. Weather Center is closely based on German Expressionist choreographer Mary Wigman’s solo Witch Dance, first performed by Wigman in Munich in 1914. Wearing a mask that obscures her face, the dancer in Nipper’s video enacts highly charged movements that resemble weather patterns, while a voice-over counts from one to ten.


Read About the Artist

"Picks: Kelly Nipper"
Artforum (October 2007)

"Love Takes a Tumble Amid a Brewing Storm"
The New York Times (November 2007)

"Picks: Kelly Nipper"
Artforum (May 2002)

A person dancing.
A person dancing.

Kelly Nipper, Weather Center, 2009. Single channel video projection, black and white, sound; 5:11. Dance performed by Taisha Paggett and costume by Leah Piehl. Collection of the artist; courtesy Francesca Kaufmann, Milan

A screen showing a person dancing.
A screen showing a person dancing.

Installation view of Weather Center, 2009 by Kelly Nipper. 2010, the Whitney Biennial (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 25-May 30, 2010). Photograph by Sheldan C. Collins

A screen showing a person dancing.
A screen showing a person dancing.

Installation view of Weather Center, 2009 by Kelly Nipper. 2010, the Whitney Biennial (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, February 25-May 30, 2010). Photograph by Sheldan C. Collins

On the Hour

A 30-second online art project:
Maya Man, A Realistic Day In My Life Living In New York City

Learn more about this project

Learn more at whitney.org/artport

On the Hour projects can contain motion and sound. To respect your accessibility settings autoplay is disabled.