Hanne Darboven

Hanne Darboven (1941–2009) is one of the most influential artists of the past decades. Her outstanding work is based on writing but ‘writing without describing’. Transcribing literary works like Homer’s Odyssey in manuscript form was a large part of her practice and various of her artworks incorporate a vast collection of different kinds of texts. In addition to handwriting or typewriting, Darboven made use of other techniques, like the collage or object assemblage, adding visual material representing the history of the 19th and 20th centuries. Her writing – mostly displayed on A4 pages or in books – resulted in several thousands of sheets of paper, revealing their space-encompassing dimension only when displayed in installations. They become a symbol and physical evidence of the lifetime and the energy expended in the act of writing. In some of Darboven’s works the time spent creating the work even equals the representative time span.

Works

Ost-West-Demokratie
Hommage an meinen Vater
Schreibzeit

Hanne Darboven

Ost-West-Demokratie
Ost-West-Demokratie
Ost-West-Demokratie
Ost-West-Demokratie
Ost-West-Demokratie
Ost-West-Demokratie
Ost-West-Demokratie
Ost-West-Demokratie, 1983
felt-tip pencil on postcards and paper, national flags of the USA, GDR, FRG and Soviet Union made of fabric, and photographs
190 parts, 50 x 70 cm each