Isa Genzken is one of the most important and influential artists of the last 40 years. Her innovative, multi-faceted, complex, and uncompromising work was presented in a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2013, the artist’s first large solo show in the United States. It was also shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Dallas Museum of Art. This comprehensive exhibition included assemblage, sculpture, painting, photography, collage, drawing, artist’s books, and film, as well as expansive installations, which not only highlighted Isa Genzken’s free utilization of multiple techniques and mediums, but also the radical shifts that she repeatedly executed in her long, uninterrupted career. Her artistic power is unique and explores the fundamental themes of modernity and urban architecture.
Isa Genzken achieved her first successes in the late 1970s as German and American artists such as Gerhard Richter, Joseph Beuys, Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt, Dan Graham, or Laurence Weiner dominated art-theoretical debates. She studied under Gerhard Richter at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf; her American colleagues she met at Galerie Konrad Fischer, where, in 1976, she was the first woman to have a solo show. Even at this early stage, Isa Genzken resisted the primacy of styles, making aesthetically perfect floor sculptures, hyperboloids, and ellipsoids from wood that filled the room and which, although inspired by minimalism, were not reducible to its dogmas nor to those of conceptual art. The sculptures were based on elaborate computer calculations and required a complicated production process. They were designed in such a way as to add a narrative level to that of pure form and the geometric shape became an object charged with content. Achieving a similar result but using diametrically opposed artistic means, Isa Genzken managed to produce Brutalist concrete sculptures in the 1980s. They are magically reminiscent of architectural models or they are called ‘Weltempfänger’ (short wave radio receivers) and suggest that a concrete block equipped with an antenna can also be an object filled with meaning. In contrast to earlier sculptures, the production process here could be greatly simplified and returned to the studio, which was important for the artist. During this period she worked more radically than anyone else on redefining what sculpture could mean. Within a discourse of fundamental questioning, this corresponded to an inherent logic whereby from the late 1990s she created complex narrative installations, in which materials from the consumer-oriented world of goods were brought together and transformed into impressive scenarios recalling film sets.
Isa Genzken, born 1948 in Bad Oldesloe, has taken part in international exhibitions since 1980: 1982, 1992, and 2002 documenta 7, IX and 11; 1982, 1993, 2003 Venice Biennale, 2007 solo presentation at the German Pavilion; 1987, 1997, 2007 Skulptur Projekte Münster; 2001 Istanbul Biennale; 2004 Carnegie International, Pittsburgh; 2016 Gropius Bau, Berlin. Selected solo shows: 2021 Kunstsammlungen Nordrhein Westfallen, K21, Düsseldorf; 2019 Kunsthalle Bern, 2016 Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn; 2015 Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; 2015 Museum für Moderne Kunst MMK, Frankfurt a.M.; 2014 The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; 2014 Dallas Museum of Art; 2014 Museum der Moderne, Salzburg; 2013 Museum of Modern Art, New York; 2012 Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin; 2010 New Museum, New York; 2010 Museion, Bolzano; 2009 Museum Ludwig, Cologne; 2003 Kunsthalle Zürich etc.
Press
Isa Genzken. Werke von 1973 bis 1983. Kunstmuseum Neubau & Gegenwart, Hans-Dieter Fronz, Kunstforum, 17.12.2020Vita
1948
born in Bad Oldesloe
lives and works in Berlin
1969—1971
Studies at University of Fine Arts, Hamburg
1971—1973
Studies photography and graphic at University of Fine Arts, Berlin
1973—1975
Studies Art history and Philosophy at the University of Cologne
1973—1977
Studies at Art Academy, Düsseldorf
2017
received the "Kaiserring"
Selected Solo Shows
2024
Ohr – Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin
2023
Zeichnung Plan Collage 1965–2018 – Galerie Buchholz, Berlin
Basic Research – Jahn und Jahn, Munich/Lisbon
75/75 – Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin
2021
Here and Now – Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf
Glenstone Museum, Potomac
Works from 1973 to 1983 and Hier und Jetzt – K20/K21
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf
David Zwirner, Hong Kong
2020
Isa Genzken – David Zwirner, Paris
Works from 1973 to 1983 – Kunstmuseum Basel; Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf
Nüsschen – Galerie Buchholz, New York City
Window – Hauser & Wirth, London
2019
Isa Genzken – Kunsthalle Bern
Collagen – Jahn und Jahn, Munich
Peder Lund Gallery, Oslo
2018
Außenprojekte – Galerie Buchholz, Berlin
Sky Energy – David Zwirner, New York
Recent Works, Hall Art Foundation – Schloss Derneburg Museum
2017
Issie Energy – König Galerie, Berlin
2016
Modelle für Außenprojekte – Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn
Mach dich hübsch! – Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin
Portraits – Galerie Buchholz, New York
I Love Michael Asher – Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, Los Angeles
Two Orchids – Doris C. Freedman Plaza, New York
2015
Mach dich hübsch! – Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Iza Genzken. New Works – Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt a.M.
Isa Genzken – David Zwirner, New York
El Salvador – Galerie Buchholz, Berlin
Basic Research Paintings, 1989-1991 – Institute of Contemporary Art, London
Hauser & Wirth, London
2014
New Works – Museum der Moderne, Salzburg
Basic Research Paintings, 1989-1991 – Fondazine Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin
Botanical Garden – Inverleith House, Edinburgh
I’m Isa Genzken, the Only Female Fool – Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
2013
Isa Genzken: Retrospective – MoMA, New York
Early Works – Galerie Buchholz, Berlin
Chicago and Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas
Soltanto un quadro al massimo: Isa Genzken - Giuseppe Penone – Villa Massimo, Rome
2012
Hallelujah – Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin
Hauser & Wirth, Zurich
2010
Between You and I - Intervention 2: Wind by Isa Genzken – Witte de With, Rotterdam
Museion, Bolzano
Rose II, Facade Sculpture Program – New Museum, New York
Mona Isa – Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris
2009
Isa Genzken: Open, Sesame! – Whitechapel Gallery, London
Isa Genzken: Sesam, öffne dich! – Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Wind – Galerie Buchholz, Berlin
Jarla Partilager, Stockholm
Oil XV/XVI – Rat Hole Gallery, Tokyo
Wind – neugerriemschneider, Berlin
Drei Vollellipsoide Skulpturen, 1978 – Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt a.M.
2008
Ground Zero – Hauser & Wirth, London
Ground Zero (2) – Between Bridges, London
2007
Oil – German pavilion, Venice Biennale
New Work – David Zwirner, New York
Isa Genzken Special – Witte de With, Rotterdam
Wir sind hier in Dresden. Der Amerikanische Raum. Wasserspeier and Angels – Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Zwinger
2006
Isa Genzken – Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck
Isa Genzken – Secession, Vienna
Sport – Camden Art Centre, London
neugerriemschneider, Berlin
2005
Kinder filmen – Galerie Buchholz, Berlin
New Work, David Zwirner
Der Spiegel 1989-1991 – The Photographer’s Gallery, London
2004
Wasserspeier and Angels – Hauser & Wirth, London
China Art Objects, Los Angeles
2003
Isa Genzken – Kunsthalle Zurich
Berlin Headlines – The Wrong Gallery, New York
Empire Vampire Teil II – neugerriemschneider, Berlin
2002
Isa Genzken – Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach
Haare wachsen, wie sie wollen, Skulpturenprojekt am Pavillon – Galerie Meerrettich, Berlin
2001
Magnani, London
AC: Isa Genzken, Wolfgang Tillmans - Science Fiction/Hier und jetzt zufrieden sein – Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Galerie Buchholz, Cologne
2000
Isa Genzken: Sie sind mein Glück – Kunstverein Braunschweig
Urlaub – Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt a.M.
Fuck the Bauhaus (New Buildings for New York) – AC Project Room, New York
1999
Liebe als Wesen – Fries Museum, Leeuwarden
1998
Neue Arbeiten – Galerie Buchholz, Cologne
Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle (with Caroline van Damme)
INIT-Kunsthalle, Berlin
1997
Robert Prime, London
1996
MetLife Isa Genzken – Generali Foundation, Vienna
1994
Skulpturen – Galerie Stadtpark, Krems
Neue Arbeiten – Galerie Buchholz, Cologne
Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
1993
Jeder braucht mindestens ein Fenster – Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
Jeder braucht mindestens ein Fenster – Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich
Skizzen für einen Spielfilm – Kunsthalle, Bremen
Kleines Zimmer – Buchholz und Buchholz, Cologne
1992
Jeder braucht mindestens ein Fenster – Portikus, Frankfurt a.M.
Everybody needs at least one window – The Renaissance Society, Chicago
Galerie Buchholz, Cologne
more light should be – Marian Goodman Gallery, New York
1991
Vom 23. Stock aus – Galerie Jürgen Becker, Hamburg
Werke 1987-1991 – Galerie Fred Jahn, Stuttgart
1990
Galerie Ryszard Varisella – Berliner Pavillon, Frankfurt a.M.
Galerie Meert-Rhioux, Brussels
Arbeiten auf Papier 1987 – Galerie Jahn und Fusban, Munich
Galleria Pieroni, Rome
1989
Isa Genzken – Kunstmuseum Winterthur
Isa Genzken – Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
1988
Isa Genzken – Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn
Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Berlin
Galerie Ghislaine Hussenot, Paris
1987
Isa Genzken Arbeiten auf Papier – Galerie Fred Jahn, Munich
1986
Isa Genzken – Galerie Fred Jahn, Munich
1983
Galleria Pieroni, Rome
1982
Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne
Forum Kunst Rottweil
1981
Institut Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt
1980
Galerie Max Hetzler, Stuttgart
Galerie van Krimpen, Amsterdam
1979
Museum Hans Lange, Krefeld
1978
Galerie Konrad Fischer, Dusseldorf
1976
Isa Genzken – Konrad Fischer Galerie, Dusseldorf
