Rosemarie Trockel

She has been one of the most versatile and pioneering female artists in contemporary art. Her collages, knitting pictures, sculptures, installations and film works embark upon investigations into social role-models, gender-specific behavior and cultural codes that she combines with discourses from philosophy, theology, and the natural sciences. In these works, Trockel investigates both contemporary and historical discourses concerning artistic and social identity. Her feminist perspective challenges the concept of the male artistic genius and formulates an emphatic criticism both of the art world and of restrictive social norms with regard to social and sexual identity. Her first exhibitions took place at the galleries Monika Sprüth Cologne and Philomene Magers Bonn, both in 1983. Recent solo shows include Moderna Museet Malmö (2018/19), Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli in Torino (2016), Kunsthaus Bregenz (2015), travelling exhibition at Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, at the New Museum, New York and Serpentine Gallery, London (2012/2013) and Wiels Brussels, Culturegest Lisboa, Lisbon and Museion Bozen, Bolzano (2012/2013). Her 2005 retrospective Post-Menopause took place at the Museum Ludwig Köln, Cologne and at MAXXI, Rome. In 1999 she became the first female artist to represent Germany at the Venice Biennial, and in 1997 she took part in the Documenta X at Kassel.