Ever since winning the Nationalgalerie Prize for Young Art in 2015, the Frankfurt-born Anne Imhof seems to be the next rising star of German art. Known for her performance art that spans many genres while embodying pop culture aesthetics, her work has received both high praise and harsh criticism. Yet divisive as she may be, nearly everyone in Berlin has an opinion on her work.
Anne Imhof’s profile was raised even further last year with the announcement that she would represent Germany at its Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. This is a huge deal to any artist — and Imhof is only 38 — but the general consensus is that she will rise to the challenge. Elke aus dem Moore, head of the art department of the Ifa, says of the choice: “Anne Imhof is an outstanding selection for the German contribution at the 57th Biennale Arte di Venezia. Imhof creates visually rich performances with dense imagery and penetrating intensity.”
But what do we know about Anne Imhof’s work, and what can we expect from her at the upcoming Venice Biennale? We here at Sleek have compiled a list of five essential things you need to know about her work.
1. Her Pieces Are Known For Their Length
How much you enjoy an Anne Imhof piece can largely be determined by your endurance levels. Her work usually goes over the three to four hour mark, creating long performances that slowly implicate the viewer in what they are watching.
2. She Has A Deep Interest In Spontaneity
No two performances of the artist are ever the same. She relies on her performers to bring their own feelings towards the performance in order to make it a spontaneous event. For example for her mock-Opera “Angst II,” she allowed her performers to choose when to use their phones in order to add to the soundtrack, creating delays in looping that changes the direction the music can go in.
As she says, it’s part and parcel of what makes her work special: “I think the work is not possible without it being that way. Some things, you can’t do them alone.”
3. She Has A Strong Focus On Physicality
As her works are predominately silent, one notices how important physicality is to each and every performance. With a clever deconstruction of conventional dancing, taking common gestures, slowing them down and breaking them into component parts, she has an innovative way of viewing the human body.
As Saim Demircan writes: “Imhof broaches the expectation of performance – the ‘promise’ in its delivery – as it has been canonized. Hers is a physical language broken down and cut loose of its historical restraints.”
4. She Is The Voice Of Millennial Concern
With her nightlife referencing performances — featuring strewn about coca-cola cans, and her typically young performers glued to her phones — Imhof’s work perfectly captures the fears and expectations of youth in a time as uncertain as ever. Additionally, by inviting onlookers to take pictures of the event and upload them to Instagram, she proves herself to be perfectly glued into the ways in which Millennials consume culture. Her multimedia approach makes her the perfect choice for the future.
5. Her Work Is Perfect To Represent Germany
From Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Projects to Wagner’s Ring Cycle, the best of German art can be represented by both its enormous size and its amalgamation of different genres. After all, Germany was the country that coined the phrase Gesamtkunstwerk, used to describe a total work of art that synthesizes together many contrasting forms. Following perfectly in this tradition, Imhof creates works that employ a large combination media, theatrics, sound and smoke, making us excited for what just what she will cook up come May.