Jochen Gerz

Jochen Gerz (born the April 4th 1940 with Berlin -) is a German contemporary artist of international repute.

It is especially a conceptual artist . Its exposures never present only one artistic discipline. They must be included/understood mainly like works In-situ; where various media are used: Photography, Video, Book of artist, Sculpture, but also performance.

Jochen Gerz lives in France since 1967, and with Ivry-sur-Seine, close to Paris since 2000.

Biography

Jochen Gerz was born in 1940 in Berlin. It passed from the literature to Article It started as an author of (Poésie concretes) and be corresponding abroad of a German news agency. It initially remained near its city-fatherland Dusseldorf. He studied, with Cologne the German Philologie, English philology, the Sinologie, then with Basle, the Archéologie and the ancient history, without finalization of these studies.

Public orders

Jochen Gerz was made known by many people by the works, worked out often in common with others, and received everywhere with strong reactions. Some examples:

The Monument against Fascism (known as the Monument of Harburg)

The monument which it developed in 1986 with Esther Shalev-Gerz, in the Harburg district of Hamburg and is broad column of one meter and a 12 height meters, covered with a thin layer of lead. Beside this column there is had four stylets and an inscription, in seven languages in connection with this monument against Fascism, inviting the passers by to sign. At once that surface available was completely written, the column was to be lowered for kasher this piece. In the design, the artists wanted a monument where the interaction with the men was to be born, by a list with engraved names, and which disparassait at the same time in the ground. It is only by one small pane that a sight was to be possible on part of the column whose inscriptions would appear similar to the long lists of names referring to the holocaust, with the crucial difference that here, the men are alive contrary to lists of the names of victims. Jochen Gerz speaks in connection with this works „again standard about monuments where traditional the short upheaval of the spectator is replaced by his durable participation as joint author and coresponsable."

However, rather quickly, another image appeared: the column was covered by names, graffiti and slogans (" X likes y" or " foreigners outside! ") which were engraved. During successive descents, until the complete hiding, of the traces of shooting were found on the lead coating; one also tried to entirely eliminate coating with the column base - swastika were also engraved.

The artist himself commented on that as follows: " thus the places of memory are the men, not the monuments."

2.146 stones, the Monument against racism (known as the Monument of Saarbrucken)

In April 1990, all 66 Jewish communities of Germany (and the GDR of the time) were invited to place at the disposal the names of their cemeteries. With eight students Jochen Gerz, in a night action, without presence, on the paved place Schlossplatz of Saarbrucken, engraved on the lower part of the paving stones, the names of the Jewish cemeteries, which corresponded to those buried until the Nazism, then it positioned back the paving stones. The number of the cemeteries given by the Jewish communities rose with the autumn 1992 to 2146. That gave the name to the memorial: 2146 paving stones - monument against racism, Saarbrucken. This work took place like meanwhile descent of the monument of Hamburg-Harburg in the ground. The Schlossplatz is called today '' Platz of Unsichtbaren Mahnmals '' (place of invisible mémorium).

Inquire of Bremen - SINE SOMNO NIHIL

Here, it is about a sculpture which was made between 1990 and 1995 in co-operation with the 232 citizens of Bremen (on 50.000 questioned people) who answered the questions:

1. On which subject does have work?

2. Do you believe that your ideas can be realized using art?

3. Would you like to cooperate with the work of art?

With the ordering of the city the participants have clearly, in six public seminars, known as that the sculpture was not to be a material object.

The Monument living of Biron (France)

Work inaugurated the July 13rd 1996. This humanistic monument takes part in the pacifist vision of the war.

With the students of the School of the Art schools of Bordeaux, Jochen Gerz realized, with Biron in 1996, a new sculpture in public space.

The ordering of the ministry for the Culture was to replace the war memorial the Première and Second world war, built in the Années 1920. The recipient of the sculpture was the commune of Biron. The city is in an area of France, the the Dordogne, which suffered much, in 1943 and 1944, of the War crimes German.

It is thus about the old monument restored out of stone of the Dordogne and plate enamelled on which appear the answers to a question secretes posed by the artist with all the inhabitants major of the commune.

Thus the old war memorial, like the memory even, will not cease changing…

Place des basic rights, Karlsruhe

For a ordering of the town of Karlsruhe of 2002, a work must be built in public space. The idea of the town of look further into and make visible the particular relation between Karlsruhe and the Right and the History, especially with the federal constitutional Court, was the starting point. Initially, Jochen Gerz raises questions about the contribution of the right to the company, with the president of the court of Karlsruhe, with some other lawyers, but also, with important citizens of the city. Then, it raises the same questions with authors of criminal acts, citizens who entered in conflict with the law, but also of the citizens who do not have a professional or essential representation right and injustice. Thus, it collects 24 testimonys twice. Each time, is registered on the front of a signpost an answer of one of the two questioned groups and on the back one of the other group. 24 signposts are thus carried out with 48 declarations, and they are installed on a metal amount.

Woherwohin - project for the International festival of music of the Lake of Constancy

At the request of the International festival of the Lake of Constancy and on the basis of its transborder activity, in 2004 the artist poses to the inhabitants of the turn of the lake, the question from where they come and where they would like to live. In the area of the Lake of Constancy, the population will be consulted independently of the official borders and nostalgias, on the origins of its identity.

Other projects

The difficulty of the Centaur has to go down from horse

One of the most important contributions of Jochen Gerz was in 1979 for the 37e Biennale de Venise, to which Klaus Gallwitz had invited it beside Joseph Beuys and Reiner Ruthenbeck. A wood construction, the Centaur , nine meters height and seven meters length, was divided by partitions. The largest part was equipped to the bottom of a valve, Gerz could arrive by there, and it settled there several days. In largest of the two halls, were six offices, and 48 sheets of paper squared, of color red-brown with specular writing, photographs and drawings.

As in other works, Gerz made of the Greek Mythology the starting point of its actions, installations and performances, which disturb and thwart reality. However, it is not interested that with the cultural heritage of the Antiquité like humanities, but it returns to the cultural apparatus like something of the separation of real life. The Centaure of Jochen Gerz is, like known as Karlheinz Nowald “naturally, the cultural man has difficulties in find its civilization. ”

A copy of this original installation is today with the museum of Wiesbaden.

Exit/Dachau

Jochen Gerz made with this project, in 1974, a museum of the particular type. The object of work was the museum of the old concentration camp of Dachau. According to Detlef Bluemler, he wanted to thus criticize minimization by the illustration, by installing various signposts. “When, today, the keyword of the museum fixed on the exit doors “exit-ausgang”, it is comfort, according to Gottfried Knapp, whereas those which died there there were led only once directly and inevitably, thus the analogy unwise of the indications of exit by their divergence gives a macabre dimension. ” Of other indications, that Jochen Gerz accumulated with calligrammes, “continuation of the exposure”, “prohibited to smoke” or “please do not damage the pieces of exposure. ” In more it presented a part without window and semi-obscure. Naked lamps, the pale light fall on tables and chairs out of wooden coarsely worked, strictly laid out. Loudspeakers, the moaning of a man must be heard, as of the cliquètements of typewriters - a possible interpretation would be that must symbolize the documentation of terror. The chairs are screwed on the ground, on each table aligned is an album of photograph -. Photography, are in the albums such which hold to suffer from KZ-lnsassen, and others which fix Teilnahmslosigkeit of the use of this one› at cultural section ‹: KZ-Verordnungen, payments of museum, rules, prohibitions, warnings and signs which are used for channeling without clash of the surges of the visitors.

Gerz seems to force the visitor to think of parallelism between the concepts of museum and concentration camp. Its Creed could be: to show that our action, in any event, such as it is represented,” has nothing to do with our life which we are not ainsi".

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