Biography

°1930, Wiesbaden, DE
+1985 Frankfurt am Main, DE
Lived and worked in Germany.

The German artist Charlotte Posenenske belongs to the group of conceptual and minimal art, but her work is more radical. She made raw and elementary sculptures. Her work is a fundamental investigation into the position of the artist in relation to the work of art. She is the architect of a new kind of system, closely intertwined with her own reflections. Her work lays a finger on the open nerves of our modern age.

Her works have been collected by institutions such as Middelheim Museum (Antwerp), Dia: Beacon (New York), MoMA (New York), Tate Gallery (London), Krüller Muller Museum (Otterlo), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Museum Ludwig (Cologne), Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago) and M HKA Museum of Contemporary Art (Antwerp).

Charlotte Posenenske is represented by Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Mehdi Chouakri (Berlin), Peter Freeman Inc. (New York City), Konrad Fisher Gallery (Düsseldorf) and Take Ninagawa (Tokyo).

°1930, Wiesbaden, DE
+1985 Frankfurt am Main, DE
Lived and worked in Germany.

The German artist Charlotte Posenenske belongs to the group of conceptual and minimal art, but her work is more radical. She made raw and elementary sculptures. Her work is a fundamental investigation into the position of the artist in relation to the work of art. She is the architect of a new kind of system, closely intertwined with her own reflections. Her work lays a finger on the open nerves of our modern age.

Her works have been collected by institutions such as Middelheim Museum (Antwerp), Dia: Beacon (New York), MoMA (New York), Tate Gallery (London), Krüller Muller Museum (Otterlo), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Museum Ludwig (Cologne), Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago) and M HKA Museum of Contemporary Art (Antwerp).

Charlotte Posenenske is represented by Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Mehdi Chouakri (Berlin), Peter Freeman Inc. (New York City), Konrad Fisher Gallery (Düsseldorf) and Take Ninagawa (Tokyo).

	Selected Solo Exhibitions
2020	'Charlotte Posenenske Work in Progress', Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen-K20, Düsseldorf, DE 'Implicit Movement', Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp, BE
2019	'Work in Progress - Charlotte Posenenske', DIA:BEACON, NY, US 'CONDO 2019 - Charlotte Posenenske', Modern Art, London, UK 'Work in Progress - Charlotte Posenenske', MACBA, ES
2017	'Dasselbe anders: Charlotte Poseneske and Hanne Darboven', Konrad Fischer Galerie, Berlin, DE
2016	'Charlotte Posenenske', Take Ninagawa, Tokyo, JP
2015	'Charlotte Posenenske X Saâdane Afif, Charlotte Posenenske X Gerold Miller, Charlotte Posenenske X Gerwald Rockenschaub, Charlotte Posenenske X Luca Trevisani', Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin, DE 'Charlotte Posenenske and Peter Roehr', The Chinati Foundation, Marfa, US 'Charlotte Posenenske', MuHKA Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp, BE
2014	'Aufhören ; Weitermachen \| Charlotte Posenenske', Deutscher Künstlerbund e.V., Berlin, DE 'Charlotte Posenenske: Early works', Peter Freeman Inc., New York, US
2013	'Line and Space', Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin, DE
2012	'Dasselbe anders/Immer dasselbe', Düsseldorf, K21, Düsseldorf, DE 'Charlotte Posenenske und Peter Roehr', Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden, DE
2011	'Le même autrement-The same, but different', Galerie Nelson-Freeman, Paris, FR 'Charlotte Posenenske', John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, UK 'Charlotte Posenenske: Vierkantrohre, Reliefs, Faltungen und Arbeiten auf Papier', Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf, DE
2010	'Charlotte Posenenske / Peter Roehr', Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich, CH 'Charlotte Posenenske', Artists Space, New York, US
2008	Peter Freeman Inc., New York, US 'Charlotte Posenenske - Werke unter freiem Himmel', Galerie Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin, DE
2007	'Charlotte Posenenske', Galerie Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin, DE 'Charlotte Posenenske', Between Bridges, London, UK
2005	Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck, AU 'Charlotte Posenenske - Retrospektive', Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Siegen, DE
2003	Galerie Konstantin Adamopoulos, Frankfurt am Main, DE
1999	Galerie ak, Programm Konstantin Adamopoulos, Frankfurt am Main, DE
1990	Museum für Moderne Kunst (at the Jahrhunderthalle Hoechst), Frankfurt am Main, DE
1989	Garage of the City Hall, Rotunda of the Neue Staatsgalerie, curated by Werner Esser, Stuttgart, DE Headquarter of the Deutsche Bank, Central Station, Frankfurt am Main, DE
1988	Central Market, Frankfurt am Main, DE
1986	Galerie Paul Maenz, Cologne, DE Main airplane hangar, Lufthansa Airlines, Frankfurt am Main, DE Galerie Grässlin-Ehrhardt, Frankfurt am Main, DE
1968	Galerie Art & Project, Amsterdam, NL Galerie Dorothea Loehr, Frankfurt am Main, DE
1967	Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf, DE Kleine Galerie, Schwenningen, DE Galerie Sous-Sol, Giessen, DE Galerie h, Hanover, DE
1966	Galerie Dorothea Loehr, Frankfurt am Main, DE
1961	Galerie Dorothea Loehr, Frankfurt am Main, DE
	Selected Group Exhibitions
2020	'L'heure bleue', Gallery Sofie Van de Velde & PLUS-ONE Gallery, Antwerp, BE
2017	'Backstage, die Rückseite, the rearside', Galllery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp, BE 'Die Revolution ist tot. Lang lebe die Revolution! Von Malewitsch bis Judd, von Deineka bis Bartana', Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, CH Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, NL 'Dimensões Variáveis', MAAT Museu Arte Arquitetura Tecnologia, Lisboa, PT
2016	'From Nature to Abstraction', Gallery Sofie van de Velde, Antwerp, BE 'Mixed Media (II) About Abstraction', Kicken Berlin, Berlin, DE 'Illumination', Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, DK
2015	'Vierkante Buizen Reeks DW', MuKHA Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp, BE 'That‘s All', G262 Sofie van de Velde, Antwerp, BE 'Geometric Abstractions', G262 Sofie van de Velde, Antwerp, BE
2014	'Play Objects - The Art of Possibilities', Museum Tinguely, Basel, CH 'Pliage/Fold', Galerie Gagosian, Paris, FR
2013	'D'Hollander, Posenenske, Warboys, paintings', Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf, DE 'The Other Space: Miriam Böhm, Charlotte Posenenske, James Turrell', Wentrup Gallery, Berlin, DE 'A Stone left unturned', Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris, FR
2012	'Minimalism in Germany. The Sixties II', Daimler Contemporary, Berlin, DE Art and the City, Zürich, CH 'Sylvie Fleury et Charlotte Posenenske', Mehdi Chouakri, Paris, FR Sao Paulo Biennial, Sao Paulo, BR
2011	12th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, TR 'Twenty Years of Presence', MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, DE
2010	Pergola, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR 'Minimalism and Applied II', Daimler Contemporary, Berlin, DE 'Radical Conceptual', MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, DE 'Charlotte Posenenske', White Columns, New York, US
2009	'In & Out of Amsterdam: Travels in Conceptual Art', 1960–1976, Museum of Modern Art, New York, US 'Just what is it ...', ZKM, Karlsruhe, DE 'Chasing Napoleon', Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR 'The Knight’s Tour / Lunar Distance', De Hallen, Haarlem, NL '1968. Die Große Unschuld', Kunsthalle Bielefeld, DE 'Yellow and Green', MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, DE
2008	'Zuordnungsprobleme', Johann König, Berlin, DE 'Classical: Modern II', Daimler Contemporary, Berlin, DE Art Forum Berlin 2008, DE 'Revolutions 1968', Zacheta National Gallery, Warschau, PL 'Peripherer Blick und kollektiver Körper', Museion, Bozen, CH
2007	Documenta 12, Kassel, DE
2006	'Conversation with Art, on Art', Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, JP
2005	'25 Jahre Sammlung Deutsche Bank', Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, DE
2004	'Kurze Karrieren', Museum Moderner Kunst, Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, AUT 'DaimlerChrysler Collection', South African National Gallery, Kapstadt, ZA 'DaimlerChrysler Collection for South Africa', Pretoria Art Museum, ZA 'DaimlerChrysler Collection for South Africa Museum Africa', Johannesburg, ZA 'Dependent Objects', Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard, Boston, US
2003	'On the Edge', Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, US The DaimlerChrysler Collection, ZKM, Karlsruhe, DE 'Minimalism and After II', Daimler Contemporary, Berlin, DE
2002	'Minimalism and After II', Daimler Contemporary, Berlin, DE 'Die Gewalt ist der Rand aller Dinge. Subjektverhältnisse, politische Militanz und künstlerische Vorgehensweisen', Generali Foundation, Vienna, AT
2001	'Frankfurter Kreuz. Transformationen des Alltäglichen in der zeitgenössischen Kunst', Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main, DE
1972	Galerie Art & Project, Amsterdam, NL
1969	Galerie plus-kern, Ghent, BE
1968	Galerie Dorothea Loehr, Frankfurt am Main, DE Public eye, Kunsthaus Hamburg, DE Galerie Rene Block, Berlin, DE 'Deutscher Künstlerbund ‘68', Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nuremberg, DE
1967	Galerie Jülicher, Mönchengladbach, DE Galerie Hauptstrasse 1, Gelsenkirchen, DE 'Dies Alles, Herzchen, wird einmal dir gehören', Galerie Dorothea Loehr, Frankfurt am Main, DE 'Serielle Formationen', Studiogalerie, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main, DE Landesmuseum Wiesbaden, DE
1966	'Marielies-Hess-Stiftung', Hessischer Rundfunk, Frankfurt am Main, DE
1961	'Junger Westen', Städtische Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, DE
1959	'Vibration', Galerie Weiss, Kassel, DE

Bibliography

www.flipsnack.com/SofieVandevelde/van-natuur-tot-abstract.html

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Exhibitions

10.04—09.05.2021
Nieuw Zuid

Daniel Buren, Willy De Sauter, Guy Mees, Charlotte Posenenske, Perry Roberts
Over ritme, motief en ruimte

09.06—31.07.2020
Nieuw Zuid

Groupshow
L'heure bleue Part I

11.01—01.03.2020
Nieuw Zuid

Groupshow
Implicit Movement

22.10—30.11.2019
Groen Kwartier

Charlotte Posenenske and Ilse D'Hollander
Private view

16.03—05.05.2019
Nieuw Zuid

Group Show
The Bare Necessity

07.09—15.10.2017
Nieuw Zuid

Group show
Backstage: die Rückseite - the rear side

Fairs

News

Press

2019

The social dimension in Charlotte Posenenske’s art

Charlotte Posenenske’s (1930–1985) concept of participation which envisages to engage others – the curators, the collectors, the audience – in the production of the artwork is the ultimate expression of the attempt to make her art accessible. Thus she places herself knowingly in the tradition of the Russian Constructivists of the 20th, especially of El Lissitzky who postulated to make the advanced art understandable by geometry. „The geometric shape is unambiguous i.e. immediately recognizable for all.“

All objects of the artist are stereometrically constructed, after she had given up the subjectivistic manner of informell painting at the end of the 50th. Like El Lissitzky she wanted to connect her art to the objective parameters of technology and architecture by elementarisation and standardisation. El Lissitzky postulated: „Art and technology a new unity.“
Not only geometry and participation are aspects of the accessibility but also the gap of 32 cm in the installation of the steel tubes exhibited in the avantgarde gallery art & project at Amsterdam in 1967. You could walk across the artwork – which was very unusual at that time, compared with the traditional way to contemplate an artwork from outside.

The revolving vanes constructed a bit later are cubes and prisms higher than mansize which you enter by moving the vanes of doorsize. They are transitrooms. At the opening of the first exhibition in the gallery Dorothea Loehr, Frankfurt/M 1967, the galerist, a slim lady in a white suit stepped out of the object that was closed before reading a text. Later young kissing couples and hide-and-seek playing children stayed within the artrwork.

The last object realized only after the artist’s death consistrs in two oversized mobile walls which form a cube in front of a corner when closed.Thus the artwork is integrated in the architecture. In the small, square cabinet you may sit at a little table, drink tea or read a book. Thus the artist had arrived – like El Lissitzky – at architecture in which we live and work. „Architecture – this is art on the highest level.“ The former spectator had become a collaborater who was involved not only mentally but physically as well. The spectator of art doesn’t stand any more in front of the artwork but is situated inside.

Consequently the artist didn’t hesitate to make her art usable, i.e. to transgress the traditional border between art and every day life. Again it was El Lissitzky whom she followed. As a consequence of this the public often took the steel tubes for a ventilation pipe. But the last step – from art to design – she didn’t take: the usability of her artwork is restricted, you can only stay inside. Charlotte Posenenske – in contrast to what the constructivists demanded – remained on the base of art. She didn’t realize the usability effectively (by design), but prefered the allusion. She had arrived at the border of art. Then she gave up art – the art szene was puzzled. She had ended her way from painting to architecture. Regarding her rather small oeuvre, completed in the shortest time, you may come to the conclusion: she had finished her oeuvre which forms a rather consistent whole.

Always and again Charlotte Posenenske has been misunderstood as a political artist. The social dimension of her art is confined in making it more accessible. Her art is political only in so far as she tried to make her art more democratic by partizipation and keeping the prizes as low as possible.

Charlotte Posenenske

Biography

Bibliography

Artworks