Norbert Radermacher

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Norbert Radermacher (* 1953 in Aachen ) is a German visual artist who is particularly known for his interventions and objects in public space .

Life

Radermacher studied from 1973 to 1979 at the Düsseldorf Art Academy , among others with Irmin Kamp . In 1979 he received a scholarship from the Ernst Forberg Foundation. In 1980 a grant from the Franco-German Youth Office brought him to Paris for a year, which he hiked. A site-specific work in the urban space was created every month. A move to Berlin in 1983 was associated with a studio in Künstlerhaus Bethanien , Berlin. In 1985 Radermacher exhibited there in the exhibition 1945–1985: Art in the Federal Republic of Germany in the Neue Nationalgalerie . In 1987 Radermacher took part in documenta 8 . In 1988 he received a workshop scholarship from Philip Morris. In 1991 Radermacher held a visiting professorship at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich . From 1992 to 2018 he was a professor at the Kunsthochschule Kassel , meanwhile also its deputy rector. From 2004 to 2010 Radermacher was President of the " International Artists' Committee ". Radermacher lives and works in Berlin.

Awards (selection)

  • 1985 Vordemberge Gildewart scholarship
  • 1989 RENTA Prize, Nuremberg; August Seeling Prize, Duisburg
  • 1990 Villa Romana Prize, Florence

Solo exhibitions (selection)

A catalog was published for the exhibitions marked with "K".

  • 1983 Moltkerei workshop, Cologne; Giannozzo Gallery, Berlin
  • 1985 Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin K
  • 1987 Society for Contemporary Art, Bremen K ; Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken K ; Mueller-Roth Gallery, Stuttgart K
  • 1988 Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen
  • 1989 Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg
  • 1991 State Gallery of Modern Art, Munich K ; City gallery in Sophienhof, Kiel
  • 1993 Institute for Modern Art, Nuremberg / Museum Wiesbaden K
  • 1994 Municipal Gallery Würzburg
  • 1994 KasselerKunstVerein , Kassel
  • 1995 Sprengel Museum Hannover K
  • 1996 New Museum Weserburg, Bremen K ; De Zonnehof, Amersfoort (Netherlands) K

plant

Numerous works by Radermacher are placed in the public urban space, "pieces for cities", as he calls them. You can find them in Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Bonn, Duisburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Brussels, Paris, Marseille, Saragossa, the Netherlands and Switzerland. On bridges, ramps, traffic islands, walls - in unpretentious "non-places", where no art would be expected, Radermacher installs objects that are not immediately recognizable as works of art. Radermacher's “Denk-males” want to be found unprepared by the wandering gaze, and invite you to pause in surprise.

“Compared to the dimensions of the city, the pieces are small. Like the lifebuoy on the ocean liner. Ultimately, you can only hold on to it. "

- Norbert Radermacher (1987)

For his poetic interventions, Radermacher mostly uses archetypal forms such as the vessel, the ring or the house. They provide the viewer with plenty of starting points for reading meanings and relationships with the place. However, a specific meaning is not intended by the artist. The objects he complements are mostly of little material value: a wooden box, a small concrete house. His objects also do not testify to artistic creative drive: a black bronze ring on the railing of the Potsdamer Brücke in Berlin (1985), a life-size image of a toy horse, cast in bronze, on a bicycle parking lot of Siemens AG, Munich (1992). Because Radermacher is not about beautifying a place. Rather, Radermacher would like to add images, "archetypes" as he puts it, which he seems to be missing in this place.

“He intervenes selectively and cautiously in a place that only becomes susceptible to assignments of meaning through this intervention, and at the same time addresses the perception threshold of passers-by. (...) Radermacher's gaze is that of the strollers, equipped with a sensitivity for the breaks and the sometimes grotesque logic of rationally designed urban spaces. With his subtle interventions in the public space, Rademacher represents a consistent counter-position to an ostensibly triumphant commissioned art. "

- Thomas Beck (2003)

Radermacher's Ring (1985) on the railing of Potsdamer Brücke , Berlin, for example, was created on the occasion of the exhibition 1945–1985: Art in the Federal Republic of Germany in the New National Gallery next door. Originally (and deliberately) attached without the approval of the responsible authorities, the artwork was "disposed of" during renovation work on the bridge in 1997/98. The second bronze casting that can be seen today was made with the permission of the authorities. While the ring looks like an attempt to enhance the sterile, functional appearance of the civil engineering structure with a “bridge piercing” to one observer, the other recognizes a dysfunctional replica of a similarly sized lifebuoy attached in the middle of the bridge. The symbolic meaning of a ring, which generally stands for eternity and connectedness, gives rise to further associations.

For documenta 8 (1987), Radermacher subtly ironized the general architecture of a parking garage by placing two small gray vases on the supports - like classic buildings.

The building (1987) is a small concrete house that is fitted into the long concrete parapet of the subway entrance on the north side of Stuttgart Central Station. Through this “opening”, the parapet suddenly appears like a row of houses.

The shrine (1991) is a high-gloss, black wooden box in the glass overhang of a parking garage emergency exit at Bonn train station.

Photo gallery

literature

  • Norbert Radermacher . Exhibition catalog, Verlag für moderne Kunst, Nuremberg, in collaboration with the Museum Wiesbaden, 1993. [Overview of Radermacher's work from 1980 to 1993 with a detailed list of exhibitions and bibliography]
  • Rainer Mügel: Norbert Radermacher: "Pieces for Cities". Pointing the urban space - a special position of the location-relatedness of art in public space . Tenea, Berlin, 2003. PhD dissertation at the University of Fine Arts Braunschweig with an overview of his works. The book contains a detailed discussion of the work of art Der Ring on pp. 179ff . Excerpt in Google Books

Web links

Commons : Norbert Radermacher  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Norbert Radermacher. Pieces for cities - furnishings in the street space. Exhibition catalog, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, 1985
  2. ↑ Norbert Radermacher. Stuttgart. 5 pieces for the city. Exhibition catalog. Ed .: Institute for Modern Art, Nuremberg, and Galerie Müller-Roth, Stuttgart, 1987
  3. ↑ Thomas Beck: Norbert Radermacher - The Ring. In: Hans Dickel, Uwe Flechner (ed.): Art in the city. Sculptures in Berlin 1980–2000 . Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin 2003, p. 33 ff.
personal data
SURNAME Radermacher, Norbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German visual artist
DATE OF BIRTH 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Aachen