Martha Rosler
Positionen in der Lebenswelt
Catalog Raisonné to the exhibition from May to August 1999.
Ed. by Sabine Breitwieser and Catherine de Zegher. Preface by Dietrich Karner. Introduction by Sabine Breitwieser. Interview with Martha Rosler by Benjamin H.D. Buchloh. Texts by Alexander Alberro, Sabine Breitwieser, Silvia Eiblmayr, Annette Michelson, Martha Rosler, and Catherine de Zegher.
This is the first German-language publication on Martha Rosler. In addition to an interview with the artist, essays by prominent authors consider the work from different perspectives and are complemented by two important critical essays by Martha Rosler. An illustrated and annotated list of works as well as a bio and bibliography of Martha Rosler convey the extensive spectrum of this outstanding artistic personality.
Since the late 1960s, Martha Rosler (Brooklyn, New York) has taken a stand on current, socially relevant issues in bitingly critical but also humorous works, pursuing questions of contemporary art. Food as a social and economic factor, the positioning of women in society, the role of the mass media, especially in war, and urban issues are among the most important. Many works have a personal, anecdotal character, leaving open whether the background is autobiographical or fictional. Martha Rosler has created influential works in the fields of photography, performance, video and installation, but also as an author of critical and theoretical essays. In the 1990s, her multifaceted oeuvre once again achieved great significance, especially for the younger generation.
"I try to grasp experience against a background of history, social practice, and social meaning. For me, an artistic work has a chance of resonating - and this applies to all works, not just mine - when it makes visible the relationship between a direct or immediate experience and the circumstances that mediate and cause it." (Martha Rosler)