Uwe Knietsch

Uwe Knietsch (* 1965 in Wiesbaden ) is a German action artist .

Life

The founder of the 'positivist guerrilla tactics' was already noticed during his school days through activities that led to the first publicly recognized works after training in dialogue directing via free art projects and the 'illegal' enrollment in courses in philosophy, political science, history and art. He has lived in Munich since 1974.

Works and actions

The Book That Was Never Written (1987) 2009 reprint, ISBN 978-3-9813001-1-6 . - a book with blank pages, initially created as a single work of art, was last found in 2009 with a foreword and an introduction, and found its way into regular retail. The first version of this book can sometimes still be seen at exhibitions, while the second edition was shot dead in 1987 as part of a public execution on Königsplatz in Munich. With this action, Uwe Knietsch referred to the destruction of books, records and stories in human history and included all works that could never be created. Falsified works also belong to the symbolically negated books, as do censored texts, image, sound, data documents and comments. The last execution of an edition of the book followed in 2008 as part of the commemoration event for the 75th anniversary of the book burnings by the Nazis, as a prelude to the artist's reminiscence of Ray Bradbury's " Fahrenheit 451 ", also in Munich, by being shot with an M16 assault rifle . The third phase of the art campaign was the publication of the book as a "popular edition", as Uwe Knietsch calls it, in order to keep it as a real placeholder for all the symbolically represented works and as a constant reminder on every bookshelf. The artist sees himself as a publisher or "executive producer" rather than an author.

Forgotten Books (2009) is an action that continues to the present day and began with Robert Louis Stevenson's Prince Otto (English original title: Prince Otto, 1885) at the 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair. The work, which had not yet been translated into German, was given to students of literary studies by Uwe Knietsch in a first translation. The artist considered the less successful novel to have been misunderstood and would like to save it from being "forgotten". Prince Otto was published in a larger edition in 2012 by Cybertrix Verlag ISBN 978-3-9813001-2-3 .

Money Bags (2007). Mannequins dressed in money bags who, disguised as visitors to the exhibition, decide what is in demand as 'real money bags'. "Due to the inextricably linked media interest, this leads to repeated multiplication of the representation in public up to tormenting penetration and thus contributes multiplying to the steadily growing ever more uniform looking flood of images." (Artist) The fourth installation has been publicly weathering / rotting since 2007 disclosed.

Folding machine and canned art - first installation of art machines in 1994, in which standardized and individual works of art / signed one- offs were offered for sale from the first DM 2 to the last EUR 4. The material and the production of the works of art, however, exceeded the selling prices considerably, so that the commentary on the art trade became a cult object itself.

Scrapping bonus for art (Feb. to Sept. 2009). Works of art could be given in payment for a scrapping premium against the offset of a sum of 100% added to a new work of art to be acquired.

combat planting - bare elevator shafts and walls were planted with wild ivy and vines at night in large cities in guerrilla tactics from 1979 to 1980 and 1984 to 1987.

Art-free space since 2005 - In the installation “Art-free space” only what counts is what you feel, smell, see, taste, hear, consider ... “Art-free space allows things and processes to be what they were originally and for will always be! ”A sung aria is only an acoustic event, a valuable painting is just a cloth stained with colored substances on old wooden slats, a film is just a series of individual images, the spaces between which can be more interesting than ...

Video - I see the subject of violence - Lokschuppen Rosenheim 1993 - A room-filling installation which, with its optical and acoustic effects, included the viewer in such a way that almost everyone was convinced that they had been struck by lightning when they came into contact with the installation.

Fields of work

As early as 1978 he began to use photography to capture architecture that was reclaimed by nature. These impressions subsequently led to a series of unauthorized, wild planting actions in high elevator shafts in Munich, which he continued with some graffity artists who then happened until well into the 80s, which he initially did not see as artistic actions. With his drawings, watercolors, oil and acrylic paintings, he began to plan the first art actions in 1981 in addition to portraits. With the sketches and the script for his first short film “Somewhere New” (1986), the planning draft was created in a night action of a six-meter willow planted in full bloom on an exposed square in Munich that tormented him with its sadness to dig in to the doors. However, he did not carry out this action despite completed preparations, as shortly before the implementation an interest group was founded, which got in touch with the city to redesign the square in a park-like manner. As part of the rededication of the planted sports car, the term “positivist guerrilla tactics” was created, with which Knietsch's actions are described. What is simply called “art in public space” today was “the surprise from public space” for Knietsch. This profile prevailed both in his art vending machines (e.g. folding picture vending machine) and in the music videos he began with in 1985 (from “King of Reggae” to “shakira's dance”). In addition to more manual work such as the graphic design of posters and title pages as well as book illustrations (e.g. “The Yoga Year” 2006), he also constantly adds new accents to his more recent works such as “Money Bags” and “The Art Free Space” the “encounter in reality with reality”, which he proclaimed for the first time in 1992 at an exhibition opening (subject of media flood) (SZ / Ebersberger Zeitung of November 13, 1993).

Exhibitions

Galerie am Gärtnerplatz / Munich 1991 - retrospective
Permanent exhibition: “Galerie unArt” 1991–1993 in Baldham / Vaterstetten near Munich
Lockschuppen Rosenheim 1993 - room installation
Kulturzentrum Messestadt München 2007 - pictures, photos, computer graphics, sculptures and installations (1984 to 2007)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Knietsch, Uwe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German action artist
DATE OF BIRTH	1965
PLACE OF BIRTH	Wiesbaden