Brigitte Schenk

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Brigitte Schenk (left), Joseph Beuys and Johannes Stüttgen. The photo shows the result of Beuys' performance of the merging of the crown by Tsar Ivan the Terrible in the form of a hare on the occasion of Documenta 7 in Kassel and the 7000 oaks project
From left to right: Heike-Melba Fendel , Franz Dahlem, Brigitte Schenk, Günther Förg. Art market, after show party (Cologne, 1984)

Brigitte Schenk (born April 20, 1961 ) is a German gallery owner and art dealer . In 1992 she founded the Brigitte Schenk gallery in Cologne .

life and career

Brigitte Schenk-Weitzdörfer studied philosophy and politics at the University of Cologne under Ernst Vollrath after completing her classical ballet training . In the early 1980s she went to New York . There she was "discovered" in 1981 as an artist by Keith Haring for his exhibition at the Mudd Club , where Haring was then active as a curator and was still largely unknown in the art world. In the legendary club live performances were shown, new wave and experimental music as well as literary seccions with Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs or “catwalk exhibitions ” by young fashion designers such as Anna Sui or Jasper Conran .

At that time, Schenk exhibited wearable works of art, such as fried egg dresses, walking telephones or playing card outfits, under the name of Miko Taka - named after the Japanese actress alongside Marlon Brando in the film " Sayonara " , for which she was inspired by well-known paintings also liked to "walk" in the streets of New York himself.

From 1982 to 1986 Schenk was a member of the FIU founded by Joseph Beuys - the Free International University . During this time she worked for the international project 7000 Eichen , which was exhibited at documenta 7 in Kassel in 1982 . From 1984 to 1988 Schenk worked in the German office of the Dia Art Foundation for its founder Heiner Friedrich and director Franz Dahlem in Cologne. From 1988 to 1992 she was the personal assistant to the artist AR Penck .

Since her own gallery was founded in Cologne in 1992, the regular gallery program has developed around artists such as Curtis Anderson, Klaus Fritze, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov , Marilyn Manson , Arnulf Rainer and Maria Zerres . Since 1999 the gallery has focused on the work in the MENA region (Middle Easter and North Africa). As a pioneer in this field, Schenk regularly shows artists from this region in its own gallery. Artists such as Tarek Al-Ghoussein from Kuwait, Abdullah Al Saadi from Sharjah and Halim Al Karim from Iraq represented them in the respective pavilions at the Venice Biennale in 2011, 2013 and 2017. Magdi Mostafa from Cairo and Abdulnasser Gharem from Saudi Arabia have been represented by the gallery since 2017.

Schenk also organized various exhibitions in the MENA region. The Andy Warhol Tour of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah in 2002 was an exhibition that introduced Andy Warhol's work in the region for the first time. From 2005 she took part in the Sharjah Biennale several times (2005 with the artists Rosemarie Trockel , Candida Höfer and Klaus Fritze, 2009 with Doug Henders and 2011 with Ilya and Emilia Kabakov). In 2008 Schenk curated the Focus Orient exhibition in the Thomas Walter Collection with orientalist photographs from the 19th and early 20th centuries at the Sharjah Art Museum . In 2011 she curated the exhibition The Lure of Beauty - "Fashion photography and Fashion illustration of the 20th Century from the Martin Fervers Collection."

Together with Amira Gad from the Serpentine Galleries , London, she curated the exhibition by Maria Zerres and Angela Bulloch Considering Dynamics and the Forms of Chaos at the Sharjah Art Museum in 2016 . In 2014, together with Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi, she curated an extensive exhibition Sinus Arabicus from the collection of Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi , the Emir of Sharjah, as well as works from the collection of the Sharjah Art Foundation in Cologne. In 2018, Schenk curated the exhibition Subversive Forma of Social Sculpture with Heimo Zobernig and Abdulnasser Gharem at the Sharjah Art Museum together with Amira Gad from the Serpentine Galleries, London .

Web links

Commons : Brigitte Schenk  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Spex, New York, New York! No. 1 . Cologne January 18, 1982, p. 14.15 .
  2. ↑ Iraq at the Venice Biennale 2011. Retrieved June 8, 2018 (en-EN).
  3. ↑ Tarek Al Ghoussein to represent Kuwait at the 55th Venice Biennale . In: The National . May 21, 2013 ( thenational.ae [accessed June 8, 2018]).
  4. ↑ UAE at Biennale di Venezia features “Second Time Around” . In: Islamic Arts Magazine . May 31, 2011 ( islamicartsmagazine.com [accessed June 8, 2018]).
  5. ^ Abdullah Al Saadi. Viva Arte Viva, 57th Venice Biennale 2017. Accessed June 8, 2018 (German).
  6. ↑ Al Qasimi, Hoor / Wonschik-Steege, Jutta Angelika / Schenk, Brigitte: You: the magazine of culture , “The trend has only just found its beginning”! Conversation with Her Highness Sheikha Hoor bint Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi . tape 69 , issue 793, 2009.
  7. ↑ Werner Bloch: Desired worlds in the desert . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . jG 65, no. 169 . Munich July 25, 2009, p. 2 .
  8. ↑ Danna Lorch: Sartorial Heaven In Sharjah: 'The Lure Of Beauty' At Sharjah Art Museum. In: Culture Trip. January 28, 2016, accessed June 8, 2018 .
  9. ^ Considering Dynamics and the Forms of Chaos on the museum website.
  10. ^ Considering dynamics and the forms of chaos . In: Times of Oman . March 17, 2016 ( timesofoman.com [accessed June 8, 2018]).
  11. ↑ Angela Bulloch and Maria Zerres: Considering Dynamics and the Forms of Chaos - Announcements - e-flux. Retrieved June 8, 2018 .
  12. ^ Henriette Westphal: Exhibitions: Sheikh visits Cologne's art oases . In: Kölnische Rundschau . September 4, 2014 ( rundschau-online.de [accessed June 8, 2018]).
  13. ↑ Dorothee Baer-Bogenschütz: Remarkably blunt . Ed .: Year of Art. tape 2015 , p. 238 .
  14. ↑ Bastian Ebel: Mohammed Al Qasimi: Arrived from the Emirates: Cologne is courting the sheikh . In: Express.de . September 5, 2014 ( express.de [accessed June 8, 2018]).
personal data
SURNAME Schenk, Brigitte
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German gallery owner and art dealer
DATE OF BIRTH April 20, 1961