Isa 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, 2009 (traveled to Museum Ludwig, Cologne); Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, Germany, 2002 (traveled to Kunsthalle Zürich, 2003); The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, 1992 (traveled to Portikus, Frankfurt; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels; Städtisches Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, both 1993); and Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn, Germany, 1988 (traveled to Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Switzerland; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, both 1989).

 was presented at the Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Austria, and subsequently traveled later that year to the Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK), Frankfurt. In 2013, The Museum of Modern Art, New York organized Genzken's first American museum survey, 

, 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 and the Dallas Museum of Art in 2014. The present work was included in this major survey.

Other venues which have hosted important solo exhibitions include the Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (2014); Museion, Bolzano, Italy (2010); Camden Arts Center, London; Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck; Secession, Vienna (all 2006); Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2002, organized by the Gesellschaft für Moderne Kunst on the occasion of the artist receiving the Wolfgang Hahn Prize); and Kunstverein 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 Goslarer Kaiserring (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 

 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; Gemeentemuseum, The Hague; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven. Genzken lives and works in Berlin.

Isa Genzken

Peder Lund is pleased to announce the first solo exhibition in Norway by one of the most influential artists of our time, Isa Genzken (German, b. 1948). On view will be a selection of the most important recent works by the artist: five major sculptural works, as well as two outstanding wall works.

Genzken’s strength is to operate fearlessly in various mediums, and her style has evolved significantly over the years. Many say that she has revived the medium of assemblage and sculpture in general. 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. In 2017, Genzken received the renowned Goslarer Kaiserring (eng. “Imperial Ring”) award from the city of Goslar, and this year, Genzken won the important Nasher Prize to honor her as one of the most significant artists of our time.

In many of Genzken’s works, her choice of materials references the excessive and mindless consumerism which a capitalistic society thrives on. Her use of bricolage in most of her later works is a quality of her oeuvre that must not only be interpreted on a formal level but also contextually. We know from her earlier and more minimalistic sculptures how precise and aesthetically pleasing her works can be, and it is clear that the specific artistic style she created later on masterfully embodies many social and art historical issues important to the artist, such as her fantastic series of the New Buildings maquettes, her Actors mannequins, and her famous Nefertiti readymades. Prime examples of each of these series are on display at Peder Lund.

Her work has been the subject of major traveling museum surveys, including a major retrospective, which the MoMA New York dedicated to the artist in 2013. Works by Genzken have also been chosen repeatedly to be presented at the Venice Biennale (2015, 2007, 2003, 1993, and 1982) and she also took part three times at documenta (2002, 1992, and 1982). Works by Genzken are held by major museums and public collections worldwide.