Ralf Berger

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Ralf Fritz Berger (* 1961 in Düsseldorf ) is a German artist who, through his work, has continuously introduced a new concept of artistic material into the visual arts and its special discipline of sculpture : the own body. He combines the visual media photography , video , object art and the medium of action performance to create an existential sculptural design that postulates people as a measure of the value of art.

Career

Berger studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy from 1992 to 1996 . He completed his studies with Klaus Rinke with the academic degree of master class.

As in his early work “I always have only one thing in my head” (1994), Berger often plumbs the limits of ethical conventions of our civilization and performs a work that sometimes leads to exhaustion of one's own body. The sculptural environment, which was performed for the first time at the State Art Academy in Düsseldorf, is described as follows: It consists of a video monitor on which the preparation of the arterial ring of a human brain can be seen in the first twelve minutes. At the same time, the artist stands in the middle of the room in front of a plastic bottle with water and watches the film with concentration. In the second part, which is nine minutes long, you can see how the brain is divided into 18 slices using a knife, corresponding to the two halves of the brain, by a total of eight transverse cuts. With each cut, the artist hits one or two square slabs of clay with his forehead. In analogy to the disks in the left and right hemispheres of the brain, these plates are attached in a row of nine to the two long walls of the room at eye level. After each headbutt, the artist goes to the center of the room and removes clay residues from his forehead with a powerful jet of water from the plastic bottle. Analogous to this act, the video provides an image of how the knife is cleaned between the cuts and cleaned under a water jet. The suggestive combination of real (artistic) action and mediated (filmic) action presented here assumes an irritating causality and thus poses fundamental questions about the rationality of human activity.

Exhibitions and projects (selection)

Solo exhibitions

  • 1993 The wedding of heaven and hell , room 1, Düsseldorf
  • 1994 From - to, everyday sculpture 1 , Galerie M. + R. Fricke, Düsseldorf
  • 1995 Salivatio , Luis Campana Gallery, Cologne
  • 1996 I think I know what I'm seeing , Abteiberg Municipal Museum , Mönchengladbach
  • 1997 Basically , Luis Campana Gallery, Cologne
  • 1998 Former Imperial Abbey Kornelimünster , Aachen
  • 1999 Double Trouble , Kaiser Wilhelm Museum , Krefeld (K)
    • Intoxication of routine , Luis Campana Gallery, Cologne
    • What are you doing in my place? Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam
  • 2000 Touch me, I'm sick , Luis Campana Galerie, Cologne
  • 2001 I'm the best audience , House of Games, Utrecht , Netherlands
    • Welcome, I cannot help you , Luis Campana Galerie, Cologne
  • 2002 Sculpture Kit , PARKHAUS im Malkastenpark, Düsseldorf
  • 2003 Berger Church , Luis Campana Gallery, Cologne
  • 2004 Home Works , Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam
  • 2005 Innocence of Facts , Luis Campana Gallery, Cologne
  • 2008 Consensus - Luis Campana Gallery, Cologne
  • 2012 FRESH INVIRONMENT , Galerie Ralph Kleinsimmlinghaus, Villa Goecke, Krefeld
  • 2013 Black Forest , Kunstraum Düsseldorf
  • 2017 Backwards , Martin Leyer-Pritzkow exhibitions, Düsseldorf

Group exhibitions

  • 1994 Treibhaus 6, Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf
  • 1995 M. + R. Fricke Gallery, Düsseldorf with Vera Pfeiffer
  • 1996 “Precise Follies” Centeredge, The Tannery, London
  • 1997 “windows 97” art association for the Rhineland and Westphalia, Düsseldorf
    • Peter Mertes Scholarship 1997- S. Alhäuser / Ralf Berger, Bonner Kunstverein
  • 1998 “El nino”, Abteiberg Municipal Museum , Mönchengladbach
    • Award winners of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia - Ralf Berger and Michael Fuchs, art from North Rhine-Westphalia, Aachen
  • 1999 "Häck-Mäck", Association for the Promotion of Current Art Organization in Everyday Life, Münster
    • "Mode of Art", art association for the Rhineland and Westphalia, Düsseldorf.
    • "Renania Libre", Galeria Helga de Alvear, Madrid
    • “New Star” (with Thomas Rentmeister ), Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam
    • “The School of Athens” (with Gregor Schneider, John Bock , Jonathan Meese and others), German Art Today, Athens
  • 2000 “Holes” (with Björn Dahlem and Gregor Schneider), Luis Campana Gallery, Cologne
    • Lectures / readings - video screenings - introductions, Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam
    • "Exchange rate 1995-2000". Five years of new acquisitions by the Museum Abteiberg - Städt. Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach
  • 2001 “Scenarios or the inclination to the theater”, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn
    • Ellen de Bruijne Projects (with Saskia Jansen), Amsterdam
    • "Homeless Works", Kunstverein Bonn, Bonn
    • "Homeless Works 2", Ulm town hall
    • "House of Games", Utrecht
  • 2003 CHOKABLOCK STOCK II - Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam
  • 2004 "action button" - "My little TV-Kit 2 - mixed media scupture"; The State Russian Museum - Benois Wing, St. Petersburg
    • "Action button" - "My little TV-Kit 3 - mixed media sculpture"; The State Russian Museum - Marble Palace, Saint Petersburg , Russia
  • 2005 "THE ART YOUR ROOMS", Bonner Kunstverein , Bonn
    • “Bremer Freiheit”, Künstlerhaus Bremen, Bremen
    • "Those who have doubled Parked", PARKHAUS im Malkastenpark, Düsseldorf
    • “Snow White an the Seven Dwarfs” - Little bitch - Fundacion Marcelino Botin, Santander, Spain
  • 2006 "Gregor Schneider - Totalschaden", Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn
    • “Capribatterie - la prima” - Fondazione Morra - Institutio di Scienze della Communicazione, Naples
  • 2012 “Rembrandt calling - Rembrandt calling”, Galerie Ralph Kleinsimlinghaus, Krefeld
  • 2014 "OVERECK", Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
    • “You and your exhibitions”, art from NRW, Aachen Cornelimünster
    • "INNER CIRCLE", Deepgrey Offices, Düsseldorf
    • "Perpetua mobilia", Villa Goecke, Krefeld
    • "Another Place / Another Space / Together", Quadriennale Düsseldorf at Leeschenhof
  • 2016 “… AND THERE WAS TIME”, Centro de Artes Fundación Helga de Alvear, Cáceres
    • “Ralf and Gregor”, (with Gregor Schneider ); Art space R&R Dahmen, Düsseldorf

Scholarships and Awards

literature

  • Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf: "Treibhaus 6";
  • Art Association for the Rhineland and Westphalia, Düsseldorf: "windows 1997" - exhibition project. Interview with Ralf Berger, pp. 23–26. Düsseldorf 1997 ( ISBN 3-925974-52-0 ).
  • Bonner Kunstverein: Ralf Berger - Peter Mertes grant 1997; "I always have only one thing in mind"; Text by Harald Uhr; Foreword: Annelie Pohlen; Bonn 1997.
  • City Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach: "Ralf Berger - I think I know what I see ..."; Text by Veit Loers. Mönchengladbach 1998; ( ISBN 3-924039-40-2 ).
  • City Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach: "El Nino" - Text: Veit Loers, Mönchengladbach 1998, pp. 14–15.
  • Ralf Berger - Double Trouble: Work 1993-98; Krefeld art museums 1999, texts: Julian Heynen. ( ISBN 3-926530-84-7 ).
  • “Mode of art”: Art Association for the Rhineland and Westphalia, Düsseldorf 1999; Catalog for the exhibition July 24th – 10th October 1999. Text by Uta M. Reindl: Ralf Berger, pp. 34–37. (ISBN-3-925974-58-X).
  • Philipp Freytag: Berger, Ralf . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Addendum 3, Saur, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-598-22863-6 , p. 15.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Berger, Ralf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Berger, Ralf Fritz (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German artist
DATE OF BIRTH 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf