Over the last five decades, Lothar Baumgarten has drawn wide acclaim for his powerful body of work across many media: film, photography, drawing, ephemeral sculpture (such as Tetrahedron displayed in this exhibition), slide projection, audio, books, and site-specific works. Centered on ethnography and anthropology, Baumgartenʼs work questions the very core ideas and systems of representation. Between 1977 and 1980, the artist lived with the Yanomami people on the Venezuelan/Brazilian border and produced a significant amount of works ranging from films, audio recordings, wall drawings, as well as photographic series, one of which – titled “Montaigne,” is displayed here.

Also presented in the back gallery is the artistʼs seminal film Origin of The Night (Amazon Cosmos). Referencing a myth of the indigenous Tupi people, the work is a meditation on the South American rain forest but filmed in its entirety along the Rhine near Düsseldorf Airport. In it, the dichotomies of day and night, new and old worlds, and nature and culture unfold glacially and immersively. Only at the very end, in the filmʼs closing credits, does Baumgarten reveal where the compelling and poetic images were shot.

Baumgartenʼs work was exhibited in the worldʼs leading museums as well as in multiple international exhibitions, including documenta (Kassel, Germany): 5 (1972), 7 (1982), 9 (1992) and 10 (1997), among others. In 1984, he represented the German Pavilion at the 41st Venice Biennale (Italy), where he was awarded the Golden Lion.

Selected Works & Awards

2016

The ship is going under, the ice is breaking through (solo), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina, Madrid, Spain

2003

Lothar Baumgarten (solo), Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, USA

1984

41st Venice Biennial, the German Pavilion, Italy, the Golden Lion for Best National Participation

1972, 1982, 1992, 1997

documenta, Kassel, Germany

Exhibition

• Installation view at Aichi Triennale 2022
• Photo: ToLoLo studio