Artists

Wehrmann, Annette

Sechs Kugeln, G-2012-2, 1991
Courtesy: Ort des Gegen e. V., (c) Annette Wehrmann; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Foto: Annette Wehrmann, Kay Riechers

"Ugh, the money issue again, oh no. Too poor for the revolution! No adventure tourism and no camping on weekends. Thinking is dumb. We watch TV because we can’t afford the revolution." (1)
Annette Wehrmann (1961–2010) was an artist and author who did not adhere to institutional guidelines when it came to her artistic work. Wehrmann was critical of paternalism in all its forms and confronted existing value hierarchies and power relations with humorous interventions, radical actions, and idiosyncratic commentaries. Independence and self-determination were key themes for the artist, who opposed social deficits with utopian-ironic, feminist-fantastic counter proposals.
Annette Wehrmann produced objects made of the cheapest and most ephemeral materials, thus engendering a tension with socio-political, philosophical and artistic concerns. Her work was at odds with the world from the very beginning, yet her protest was mostly playful as well. She wrote Luftschlangentexte (paper streamer texts), detonated flowers in flower boxes and marked the Ort des Gegen (Place of Opposition).(2)
Fußball (Football) is an important early work from 1991. The six bulky brick “stones of impetus” are remnants of a performance that found Wehrmann kicking the heavy balls through the room with considerable effort. This work oscillates between succinct sculpture, energetic performance, and socially- and artistically-critical intervention.
In 1994 she invented her own, shell-shaped currency, which she called Deutscher Seifenbeton (German Soap Concrete). The work represents the artist’s playful call for parallel economies and alternative currencies. Wehrmann went around town with it and asked people what they would give for it. Important: The money should be non-convertible and non-speculatable.
Wehrmann’s work addresses socio-political grievances, such as property, wealth, undesirable urban developments, gentrification as well as her own precarious situation as an activist artist who constantly had to fight for her economic survival. Just posthumously, she received recognition and accolades. She died at the age of only 48 years.

(1) A. Wehrmann, Luftschlangentexte, Starship Verlag, Berlin 2013.
(2) Ort des Gegen, 2003, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, curated by Elke aus dem Moore.

Text: Nikola Hartl; englische Übersetzung: Amy Patton

"Ugh, the money issue again, oh no. Too poor for the revolution! No adventure tourism and no camping on weekends. Thinking is dumb. We watch TV because we can’t afford the revolution." (1)
Annette Wehrmann (1961–2010) was an artist and author who did not adhere to institutional guidelines when it came to her artistic work. Wehrmann was critical of paternalism in all its forms and confronted existing value hierarchies and power relations with humorous interventions, radical actions, and idiosyncratic commentaries. Independence and self-determination were key themes for the artist, who opposed social deficits with utopian-ironic, feminist-fantastic counter proposals.
Annette Wehrmann produced objects made of the cheapest and most ephemeral materials, thus engendering a tension with socio-political, philosophical and artistic concerns. Her work was at odds with the world from the very beginning, yet her protest was mostly playful as well. She wrote Luftschlangentexte (paper streamer texts), detonated flowers in flower boxes and marked the Ort des Gegen (Place of Opposition).(2)
Fußball (Football) is an important early work from 1991. The six bulky brick “stones of impetus” are remnants of a performance that found Wehrmann kicking the heavy balls through the room with considerable effort. This work oscillates between succinct sculpture, energetic performance, and socially- and artistically-critical intervention.
In 1994 she invented her own, shell-shaped currency, which she called Deutscher Seifenbeton (German Soap Concrete). The work represents the artist’s playful call for parallel economies and alternative currencies. Wehrmann went around town with it and asked people what they would give for it. Important: The money should be non-convertible and non-speculatable.
Wehrmann’s work addresses socio-political grievances, such as property, wealth, undesirable urban developments, gentrification as well as her own precarious situation as an activist artist who constantly had to fight for her economic survival. Just posthumously, she received recognition and accolades. She died at the age of only 48 years.

(1) A. Wehrmann, Luftschlangentexte, Starship Verlag, Berlin 2013.
(2) Ort des Gegen, 2003, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, curated by Elke aus dem Moore.

Text: Nikola Hartl; englische Übersetzung: Amy Patton

Sechs Kugeln, G-2012-2, 1991
Courtesy: Ort des Gegen e. V., (c) Annette Wehrmann; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Foto: Annette Wehrmann, Kay Riechers