About the person
born 1978 in Gießen
lives and works in Berlin
After studying Visual Communication at Hochschule Offenbach, Anne Imhof continued her studies at Städelschule Frankfurt from 2008 to 2012 in the class of Judith Hopf. The artist lives and works in Berlin and Paris.
Imhof's artistic work comprises elements of painting, performance and drawing. In her performances, that often last several hours, she collaborates with a returning cast of performers such as her partner Eliza Douglas. Through body language and repetitive gestures they investigate relationships and dislocations of power. In 2015 Imhof was awarded with the Preis der Nationalgalerie für junge Kunst for her performance Rage. In 2017, Faust, her presentation at the German pavilion won the Golden Lion. In it, performers moved over and under the glass floors that had been constructed throughout the space, performing seemingly banal, improvised movements. Despite the material used visitors were not able to overlook the whole scenario which amplified the impression of action taking place outsided of concrete production.
Anne Imhof's works have been presented in prestigious institutions, i.a. at Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum der Gegenwart (2015), MoMA PS1 (2015), German Pavillon - Venice Biennale (2017), Bundeskunsthalle Bonn (2018), Tate Modern, London (2019), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2022), Kunsthaus Bregenz (2024).
About the artwork
The monumental aluminum artwork "No to be" opens up a dark, threatening color space to the viewer, whose not entirely symmetrical shape and the cropped green stripes create an unstable, almost wavering overall impression. The bright, floating, fiber-like bundles of lines, which upon closer inspection reveal themselves as overlapping, partially decipherable calligraphic letters, convey an intense sense of inconsistency, dissolution, and constant motion. Here, a strict, almost mathematical composition meets an energetic performative movement – the letters appear like a din of voices that constantly changes and reforms. This creates an organic body that seems caught between movement and stasis. The interpretation is reinforced when one considers the subtly inserted symbolism. The biohazard symbol, heavily overlaid by the writing, only reveals itself after prolonged viewing. It characterizes the space as hostile to life, which closes the circle to the existentialist title 'Not to be'