Isa Genzken is one of the most influential artists of our time. Her intelligent ensembles composed of cheap materials are loaded with art historical, symbolical, and political references, and her work is celebrated by critics and artists alike. Genzken was born in 1948 in Bad Oldesloe, a small town outside Hamburg, Germany. While studying at the renowned Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf in the 1970s, she created large-scale stereometric wooden floor sculptures, which gained her international acclaim early on. In the 1980s, she began making sculptures in plaster and concrete, which have a wide range of sizes – some are small maquettes, while others are monumental in scale. Later, her practice included also painting, and from the 1990s on, she started to experiment with architectural forms in several mediums such as collages, assemblages, and artist books. Genzken began exhibiting her work in 1976 when she was the youngest woman to have a solo presentation at the influential Konrad Fischer Galerie in Düsseldorf.

Genzken's work has been the subject of a number of major traveling museum surveys and includes those organized by Whitechapel Gallery, London, England, 2009 (traveled to Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany); Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, Germany, 2002 (traveled to Kunsthalle Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland, 2003); The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, IL, 1992 (traveled to Portikus, Frankfurt, Germany; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium; Städtisches Galerie imLenbachhaus, Munich, Germany, both 1993); and RheinischesLandesmuseum, Bonn, Germany, 1988 (traveled to Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands both 1989).

In 2014, Isa Genzken: New Works was presented at the Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria, and subsequently traveled later that year to the Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK), Frankfurt, Germany. In 2013, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, organized Genzken's first American museum survey, Retrospective, making it the most comprehensive presentation of her work to date, encompassing all media from the past forty years. The show traveled to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL, and the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, in 2014. The present work was included in this major survey.

Other venues that have hosted important solo exhibitions include K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany (2021); Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, England (2015); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2015); Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany (2015); the Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, (2014); Museion, Bolzano, Italy (2010); Camden Arts Center, London, England; Galerie imTaxispalais, Innsbruck, Austria; Secession, Vienna, Austria (all 2006); Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany (2002, organized by the Gesellschaft für Moderne Kunst on the occasion of the artist receiving the Wolfgang Hahn Prize); and Kunstverein Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany (2000).

In 2007, the artist represented Germany at the 52nd Venice Biennale. Her work has been prominently featured in international biennials and group exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale (2015, 2003, 1993, and 1982); Skulptur Projekte Münster (2007, 1997, and 1987); and Documenta (2002, 1992, and 1982). In 2017, Genzken received the GoslarerKaiserring (or the “Emperor’s Ring”) award from the city of Goslar. An accompanying solo exhibition was held at Mönchehaus Museum Goslar in Germany, in 2017-2018. In 2023, Genzken was honored at Neue Nationalgalerie with the major exhibition 75/75 celebrating the artist's 75th birthday that showed a comprehensive survey of her sculptural practice, with 75 works included in all.

Work by the artist is represented in museum and public collections worldwide, including the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX; Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Netherlands; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany; Städtische Galerie imLenbachhaus, Munich, Germany; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands. Genzken lives and works in Berlin.

Peder Lund

Isa Genzken

Basic Research