Deutsche Bank is the Main Sponsor of the 2007 German
Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennial
The
international exhibition La Biennale
di Venezia , which takes place every two years, is the most important
forum for contemporary art worldwide. That’s why it’s a particular
pleasure for Deutsche Bank to be the main sponsor of the German Pavilion
at the 52nd Venice Biennial in 2007, where the Federal Republic is
traditionally represented by an national artist – this year by
Berlin-based artist Isa
Genzken, and curated by Nicolaus
Schafhausen, director of Witte de With,
center for contemporary art in Rotterdam.
|
Isa Genzken
Photo:
Wolfgang Tillmans
|
"I’ve often thought about what it would be like to make a
work for the German Pavilion. But now is probably the right time to really
do it. And I’m very happy about the chance to work together with Nicolaus
Schafhausen." For Genzken, the invitation to create the German
contribution to the coming Venice Biennial fulfills a long-held wish.
|
Isa Genzken, Untitled, 2002
Deutsche
Bank Collection
|
Isa Genzken’s first paper works and photo series already
became part of the Deutsche
Bank Collection in the early nineties; this was later augmented with
present-day works. Since that time, the artist has been involved in a
number of common art projects with the bank, such as the project proposal World
Receiver, which the artist conceived for Moment,
Deutsche Bank Art’s
series of temporary works of art in the public arena. Starting on
September 1, 2006, works by Isa Genzken can be seen in the anniversary
exhibition All
the Best at the Singapore Art
Museum – the final climax of an exhibition series celebrating the
Deutsche Bank Collection’s 25th anniversary.
|
|
Isa Genzken, Untitled, 2002
Deutsche
Bank Collection
|
Nicolaus Schafhausen, who follows Julian
Heynen as commissioner of the German Pavilion, in explanation of his
decision said he wanted someone "maladjusted," someone for whom "content
is important." "I can think of only a few, who comment our time and
reality as subtle and critical as this artist." The fact that he didn’t
choose an artist of the younger generation, but the 1948-born sculptor,
whose work was shown in 1992 and in 2002 at the documenta
as well as several times at the Venice Biennial, is meant as a sign.
Isa Genzken, Untitled, no date
Deutsche
Bank Collection
|
Ever since Genzken created her first abstract sculptures in
the seventies as a continuation of Minimal Art, her cool and often austere
oeuvre, which spans video, photography, film, drawing, collage and
collaged books, has defied classification. Genzken’s work investigates the
traditional themes of sculpture – the ordering of mass and volume; the
relationship between object, space, and viewer.
Isa
Genzken, Untitled, 1987
In the process, it
aims at the tense relationship between architecture, advertising, design,
and media and examines how our perception of public space influences and
conditions our consciousness. Along with “classical” building materials,
the artist also uses everyday things such as mirror elements, plastic
foil, or found objects in her sculptural work, loading her installations
with personal, social, architectural, and institutional references.
[1]
[2]
|
