Curated by Marc-Olivier Wahler

“The things I make are variable, as simple as possible, reproducible,” Posenenske remarked in the late ’60s. Emerging as a painter while American Minimalism was taking shape, the German artist (1930–1985) went on to develop an approach strongly influenced by architecture. Constructing objects from simple industrial materials like tin and corrugated cardboard, she tested the combinatorial possibilities of modular forms, delegating an active role to the viewer. In 1968, for political reasons, Posenenske stopped making art, and her work was largely forgotten. A substantial career survey, in 2005, in Innsbruck, Austria, and Siegen, Germany, sparked a resurgence of interest, making Posenenske something of a cult figure. This extraordinary artist is now the subject of a comprehensive retrospective of roughly fifteen major works made between 1956 and the end of her abruptly truncated career.

Translated from German by Oliver E. Dryfuss.

— Astrid Wege