Katharina Sieverding: Close up

P.S.1\MoMA, New York
(Oct. 24, 2004 - Feb. 21, 2005)

KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin
( Oct. 1 -Nov. 27, 2005 )

Due to popular demand, the P.S.1\MoMA exhibit "Katharina Sieverding: Close up" - the first comprehensive solo showing of the artist's work in New York - has been extended until February 21, 2005.

Sieverding, who was born in Prague in 1944, has made a significant contribution to pushing the boundaries of contemporary artistic practice. Since the 1960s, with unprecedented rigor, she has used her own image to occasion and provoke reflections on politics, social mores and culture. Her position is that artists have a responsibility to engage with political issues and develop multivalent images for and provocative artistic responses to the rapid developments of present-day life.

On October 9, 2004, Sieverding was awarded the Goslaer Kaiserring, one of the world's most prestigious prizes for contemporary art. With that, she was acknowledged as one of the most fiercely independent artists working today. Previous recipients of the prize include Henry Moore, Max Ernst, Joseph Beuys, Eduardo Chillida, Christo, Gerhard Richter, Cy Twombly, Ilya Kabakov, Cindy Sherman and William Kentridge.

From now until February 21, 2005, visitors to the "Close up" exhibit in P.S.1\MoMA, New York will have a unique opportunity to explore the cinematographic aspect of Sieverding's work, in particular, the large-format self-portraits that make up a major part of her oeuvre. The exhibit offers a comprehensive survey of her work from the late 1960s up to the present and focuses on some of her most important series of photographic installations. In addition, two of her films are being shown, and on display are also some of her major individual, monumental pieces, as well as archive material that gives insight into the political and social climate of the 1960s and '70s.

Life-Death I - VII, 1969
C-Print, Acrylic, Steel
100*100 cm


The exhibit in significantly altered form will then move on to the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, where it will run from October 1 to November 27, 2005. The Berlin show will include a number of Sieverding's most recent, filmically conceived large works, which are explicitly aimed at addressing public concerns.

The exhibit, which is being curated by Alanna Heiss together with Daniel Marzona and Amy Smith Stewart, is the result of close collaboration between P.S.1\MoMA, New York and the KW Institute for Contemporary Art. It was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Hauptstadtkulturfonds Berlin as well as Rosa and Gilberto Sandretto, and Julia Stoschek.

The exhibit is accompanied by catalogue, edited by Klaus Biesenbach, of more than 550 pages, which includes a comprehensive presentation of the influential artist's early picture archive. The catalogue also features essays by Norman Bryson, Alanna Heiss, Brian O´Doherty and others.

The creation and publication of the catalogue was made possible thanks to the support of Kunststiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf.


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Further information:

Markus Müller I Maike Cruse
t: ++49 30 24 34 59 41 / 42
press@kw-berlin.de