Bettina Pousttchi
Encyclopedia
Bettina Pousttchi is a German-Iranian artist
. She lives and works in Berlin
.
. From 1990 to 1992 she studied art at the Université de Paris VIII, and from 1992 to 1997 philosophy, art history, and film theory in Cologne and Bochum. From 1995 to 1999 she studied with Professor Rosemarie Trockel
and Professor Gerhard Merz at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
. From 1999 to 2000, she attended the renowned Whitney Independent Studio Program of the Whitney Museum of American Art
in New York, where Isaac Julien
, Yvonne Rainer
, Mary Kelly
, Hal Foster
, and Benjamin Buchloh were among her teachers. After a time spent assisting other artists (including Nam June Paik
), in 1997 she began exhibiting her own work in Germany and abroad. She participated twice in the Venice Biennale
(2003, 2009). Her works are found in numerous private and public collections, including the collection of the Federal Republic of Germany.
as well as with installation
and sculpture
. Her major work thus far is the monumental photo installation Echo on Schlossplatz in Berlin (2009), which covered the entire exterior façade of the Temporäre Kunsthalle
Berlin for a period of six months. Covering nearly two thousand square meters, the photo installation was composed of 970 individual paper posters and formed a continuous motif recalling the Palast der Republik
, an iconic building that had recently been demolished on that site. In the summer of 2010, with Basel Time on the façade of Art Basel
, she mounts another site-specific work in a public space.
. Since 2003, her videos have increasingly become part of three-dimensional works. For example, the video sculpture Landing of 2006 employed ten monitors and twenty-five barriers
to create an atmosphere of enigmatic uncertainty in which viewers have to locate themselves between the poles of freedom and security.
in 2006. This salon takes the form of spontaneous meetings in public cafés in London, Berlin, Paris, and New York. At 6:30 a.m., current issues in art, literature, and the sciences are discussed. In addition, she has realized installations in collaboration with the architect Markus Miessen and the artist Rosemarie Trockel and has taken part in a film by Lawrence Weiner
(How Far Is There, 1999).
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
. She lives and works in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
Life
Bettina Pousttchi spent her childhood in Germany and part of the time in IranIran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. From 1990 to 1992 she studied art at the Université de Paris VIII, and from 1992 to 1997 philosophy, art history, and film theory in Cologne and Bochum. From 1995 to 1999 she studied with Professor Rosemarie Trockel
Rosemarie Trockel
Rosemarie Trockel is a German Artist, and an important figure in the international contemporary art movement.- Life :...
and Professor Gerhard Merz at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, formerly Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, is the Arts Academy of the city of Düsseldorf. It is well known for having produced many famous artists, such as Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, Thomas Demand, and Andreas Gursky...
. From 1999 to 2000, she attended the renowned Whitney Independent Studio Program of the Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
in New York, where Isaac Julien
Isaac Julien
Isaac Julien is an installation artist and filmmaker.-Biography:Julien graduated from St Martin's School of Art in 1985, where he studied painting and fine art film...
, Yvonne Rainer
Yvonne Rainer
Yvonne Rainer is an American dancer, choreographer and filmmaker, whose work in these disciplines is frequently challenging and experimental. Her work is classified as minimalist art.- Early life :...
, Mary Kelly
Mary Kelly
Mary Kelly may refer to:*Mary Jane Kelly , widely believed to be the fifth and final victim of Jack the Ripper*Mary Kelly , Scottish writer*Mary Kelly , American artist and writer...
, Hal Foster
Hal Foster (art critic)
Harold Foss "Hal" Foster is an American art critic and historian. He was educated at Princeton University, Columbia University, and the City University of New York. He taught at Cornell University from 1991 to 1997 and has been on the faculty at Princeton since 1997...
, and Benjamin Buchloh were among her teachers. After a time spent assisting other artists (including Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the first video artist....
), in 1997 she began exhibiting her own work in Germany and abroad. She participated twice in the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
(2003, 2009). Her works are found in numerous private and public collections, including the collection of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Work
Bettina Pousttchi works with photography and videoVideo art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
as well as with installation
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
and sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
. Her major work thus far is the monumental photo installation Echo on Schlossplatz in Berlin (2009), which covered the entire exterior façade of the Temporäre Kunsthalle
Kunsthalle
Kunsthalle is, generally, in German speaking regions a term for a facility mounting temporary art exhibitions. Some are run or supported by a local Kunstverein, an art association of local collectors and artists...
Berlin for a period of six months. Covering nearly two thousand square meters, the photo installation was composed of 970 individual paper posters and formed a continuous motif recalling the Palast der Republik
Palast der Republik
The Palace of the Republic in Berlin was the seat of the parliament of the German Democratic Republic, the People's Chamber, and also served various cultural purposes...
, an iconic building that had recently been demolished on that site. In the summer of 2010, with Basel Time on the façade of Art Basel
Art Basel
Art Basel is an international contemporary art fair held each June in Basel, Switzerland. Similar to the Venice Biennale, it has been called "the Olympics of the art world". Art Basel features nearly 300 leading galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa...
, she mounts another site-specific work in a public space.
Photography
Bettina Pousttchi’s most important photographic works alongside the installation Echo (2009) include the series Starker Staat (Strong state; 2003), Take Off (2005), Parachutes (2007), and The Hetley Suite (2008). The artist often works in series, which she conceives as “cinematographic sequences.” Her photographs always refer more to media reality than to actual reality. Typically, the editing process introduces elements that transform the image, often in the form of horizontal black-and-white lines. Bettina Pousttchi comments on this: “The blurring in my photo works opens up a space of possibility of the imaginary. In this visual uncertainty lies the question of what reality is, if and how it is depicted, and how we perceive it.“Video
Bettina Pousttchi became known for her videos Auf gute Nachbarschaft (To good neighbors; 1999) and Die Katharina-Show (2000). In the hybrid genre of the docu-clip she developed, she creates portraits in the form of video clips of people living their daily lives and in the process calls into question the claim to reality made by the documentary filmDocumentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
. Since 2003, her videos have increasingly become part of three-dimensional works. For example, the video sculpture Landing of 2006 employed ten monitors and twenty-five barriers
Crowd control barrier
Crowd control barriers , are commonly used at many public events. They are frequently visible at sporting events, parades, political rallies, demonstrations, and outdoor festivals...
to create an atmosphere of enigmatic uncertainty in which viewers have to locate themselves between the poles of freedom and security.
Sculpture
One element that occurs frequently in the artist’s sculptures is the crowd barrier, which, in the tradition of object art, she takes from public spaces and transforms. In 2009, Bettina Pousttchi formed two bent crowd barriers entirely from transparent glass for the sculpture Cleared (2009), which was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in the exhibition Glasstress. The barriers address questions of limits, the forces at work therein, and the transformative energy released by breaking them down.Collaborations
Bettina Pousttchi is a member of the Brutally Early Club, founded by Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Markus Miessen in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 2006. This salon takes the form of spontaneous meetings in public cafés in London, Berlin, Paris, and New York. At 6:30 a.m., current issues in art, literature, and the sciences are discussed. In addition, she has realized installations in collaboration with the architect Markus Miessen and the artist Rosemarie Trockel and has taken part in a film by Lawrence Weiner
Lawrence Weiner
Lawrence Weiner was a central figure in the formation of conceptual art in the 1960s His work often takes the form of typographic texts.- Life and career :...
(How Far Is There, 1999).
Selected exhibitions
- 2011 Kunsthalle BaselKunsthalle BaselSince opening in 1872, Kunsthalle Basel has examined various positions concerning contemporary art. This renowned exhibition space in the Swiss city of Basel has a very long tradition of supporting avant-garde artists and expanding the accepted boundaries of contemporary art. Contemporary art...
World Time Clock (solo) - 2010 Buchmann Galerie, Berlin (solo)
- Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork, Irland
- Pori Art Museum, Pori, Finland
- BES arte, Lissabon
- 2009 Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin (solo)
- Kunstmuseum Thun
- TENT, Center for Visual Arts, RotterdamRotterdamRotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
- 53. Biennale di Venezia
- Kunstmuseum St. Gallen
- Kunstverein Hanover
- Kunsthalle Mainz
- 2008 Triangle Gallery, Chelsea College of Art and Design, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(solo)- Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin
- Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem
- 2007 Von der Heydt MuseumVon der Heydt MuseumVon der Heydt Museum is a museum in Wuppertal, Germany.The Von der Heydt Museum includes works by 19th and 20th century artists. The first of Pablo Picasso’s works that ever appeared in public was displayed here.-External links:*...
/ Kunsthalle Barmen, WuppertalWuppertalWuppertal is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in and around the Wupper river valley, and is situated east of the city of Düsseldorf and south of the Ruhr area. With a population of approximately 350,000, it is the largest city in the Bergisches Land...
(solo)- Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires
- Essl Collection, Klosterneuburg / Vienna
- Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury
- 2006 Buchmann Galerie, Berlin (solo)
- Falckenberg Collection, Hamburg
- Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt/Main
- Whitney Museum of American ArtWhitney Museum of American ArtThe Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
, New York - Haus am Waldsee, Berlin
- The Corridor Gallery, Reykjavik
- 2005 Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren (solo)
- Dortmunder Kunstverein, Dortmund (solo)
- 2004 Cineroma, public city project, RomeRomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
(solo)- Haus der KunstHaus der KunstThe Haus der Kunst is an art museum in Munich, Germany. It is located at Prinzregentenstrasse 1 at the southern edge of the Englischer Garten, Munich's largest park.-History:...
, Munich
- Haus der Kunst
- 2003 Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart (solo)
- 50. Biennale di Venezia
- 2002 Chelsea Kunstraum, KölnKOLNKOLN, digital channel 10, is the CBS affiliate in Lincoln, Nebraska. It operates a satellite station, KGIN, on digital channel 11 in Grand Island. KGIN repeats all KOLN programming, but airs separate commercials...
(solo)- Ludwig Forum für Internationale KunstLudwig Forum für Internationale KunstThe Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst is a museum of modern art in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in a former industrial building that was once an umbrella factory , designed in Bauhaus style and built in 1928.The museum contains exemplary major works of American pop art...
, Aachen
- Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst
- 2001 Verein Junge Kunst, WolfsburgWolfsburgWolfsburg is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the River Aller northeast of Braunschweig , and is mainly notable as the headquarters of Volkswagen AG...
(solo)- Museum MorsbroichMuseum MorsbroichThe Museum Morsbroich, also called Städtisches Museum Schloss Morsbroich, is a German museum of modern art situated in Leverkusen, 20 km north of Cologne.Formerly a Baroque castle, it is now a municipal museum for the exhibition of current art...
, Leverkusen (solo) - Kunsthalle FridericianumFridericianumThe Fridericianum is a museum in Kassel, Germany. Built in 1779, it is one of the oldest public museums in Europe. The quintennial art festival documenta is centred on the site....
, Kassel
- Museum Morsbroich
Grants and Awards
- 2008 TrAIN Research Center for Transnational Art, Identity and Nation, Balmoral Residency, University of the Arts, London
- 2007 BBAX - Berlin Buenos Aires Art Exchange, Buenos Aires
- 2005 Provinzial Förderprojekt
- 2003 Die Goldene Lotte
- 2000 Kunststiftung NRW
- 1999 Die Goldene Lotte
Literature
- Bettina Pousttchi: Echo Berlin, Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König Köln, 2010 with texts by Tom McCarthy, Diedrich Diederichsen, Markus Miessen, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Bettina Pousttchi, Angela Rosenberg, Esther Ruelfs, ISBN 978-3-86560-833-8
- Bettina Pousttchi: Reality Reset, Von der Heydt Museum Wuppertal, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln, 2008, with texts by Barry Schwabsky, Jörg Heiser, Matthias Mühling, Petra Löffler, Niels Werber, Uta Grosenick, Jon Wood, Christian Rattemeyer, Mark Gisbourne, Vanessa Joan Müller, ISBN 978-3-86560-374-6
- Bettina Pousttchi: Departure, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln, 2007, ISBN 3-86560-285-1
- Bettina Pousttchi: Screen Settings, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern-Ruit, 2003, ISBN 3-7757-9178-7
- Bettina Pousttchi: Die Katharina-Show, Museum Morsbroich Leverkusen, 2001, ISBN 3-925520-60-0
External links
- http://www.pousttchi.com
- Bettina Pousttchi at Buchmann Galerie Berlin