The artist Charles Simonds:Clay as a Transformer
Lecture by Prof Dr Petra Lange-Berndt
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In her lecture, Prof. Dr. Petra Lange-Berndt introduces the American artist Charles Simonds (b. 1945) and gives insight into the radical and visionary work of an artist who chose clay as a major tool for his work throughout his life. In the 1970s Simonds was part of the land art movement, but developed his very independent position by not only criticizing the ruthless use of natural resources, but also radically questioning the gender and nature/culture duality. What is essential for him until today is the participatory cooperation with diverse communities and his restless enquiry about the foundations for a functional social community. An outstanding example of his approach are his fictional and utopian miniature cityscapes and dwellings, which he temporarily installed in various urban places around world.
Prof. Dr. Petra Lange-Berndt is chair for modern and contemporary art at Kunstgeschichtliches Seminar, Universität Hamburg; before she was Lecturer / Reader at the History of Art Department, University College of London. 2005 PhD for a dissertation on Animal Art: Präparierte Tiere in der Kunst, 1850–2000 at the University of Hamburg. Since 2015 head of Aktive Archive GDR and Materiality. Her current research addresses contemporary activist art projects that explore alternative formats for living together as well as collaborative practices. Guest curator at various institutions: Sigmar Polke: Wir Kleinbürger! Zeitgenossen und Zeitgenossinnen. Die 1970er an der Hamburger Kunsthalle (2009-10, with Dietmar Rübel und Dorothee Böhm); A World of Wild Doubt at Hamburger Kunstverein (2013, with Dietmar Rübel and Dorothee Böhm);MarkDion: Die Akademie der Dinge at Akademie der Künste, Albertinum and Grünen Gewölbe, Dresden (2014-15, with Dietmar Rübel); Hanne Darboven: Korrespondenzen am Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2017, with Gabriele Knapstein and Dietmar Rübel); Singular / Plural: Kollaborationen in der Post-Pop-Polit-Arena, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (2017, with Max Schulze, Dietmar Rübel).