Christian Falsnaes (born 1980 in Copenhagen, Denmark) is a Danish artist living and working in Berlin, Germany. [1]
Falsnaes studied philosophy in Copenhagen from 2001 to 2003. After a short stay in Zurich, he went to Vienna and studied from 2005 to 2011 at the Academy of Fine Arts under Daniel Richter, Peter Kogler and Constanze Ruhm.
Before his art studies, Falsnaes made performances and interactions in the public space using his background as a graffiti painter. Since 2009, he has developed performances based on a pre-written script. In the beginning, he played a central role in motivating the public to actively participate in the action. "Through the active involvement, the viewer should cross personal boundaries, overcome them and feel the moment of liberation and change. [1] Falsnaes said in an interview [2]: "When I involve the viewer in the process of art production, it is also about sharing all of this, instead of showing the result of my private artistic process."
The study of authority, hierarchies, social and, above all, pop-cultural rituals is an integral part of his art.
"Working with the structure of power, or with group dynamics, is in itself political. It is not so much about people following or responding in a certain way, but about making the audience aware of how certain rituals affect them. "Christian Falsnaes [3]
In his more recent work Falsnaes withdrew physically from the actions. The instructions to the audience are now provided by means of headphones, loudspeakers, or by employed "instructors". [4] Often, his performances are performed as "female versions", in which the earlier role of Falsnaes is taken over by a female performer. He often mixes himself among the audience and participates as a spectator. Through this withdrawal an additional authority transfer takes place, involving the public even more in his art. [5] Many performances are documented in video recordings and the main part of these recordings have been well planned out in advance and live on as independent video works. There are, however, also works of art arising from the actions, such as canvases painted by the audience according to the artist's instructions. [6] This includes "surface memory" where a freshly painted canvas is smeared onto the walls in a public space leaving behind an abstract wall work as well as an altered canvas.
Markus Vater is a German artist. He studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and the Royal College of Art, London. From 2012 to 2016 he had been teaching at the Royal College of Art in London. In 2014 he had a guestprofessorship at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg and from 2016 to 2019 at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe. Vater lives and works in London.
John Bock is a German artist. He studied in Hamburg, Germany and lives and works in Berlin.
Bo Christian Larsson is a Swedish artist who works mostly with large-sized drawings, installations, performances and objects.
Clemens Weiss is a German artist living in the United States.
Manfred "KILI" Kielnhofer is an Austrian painter, sculptor, designer and photographer.
Beate Gütschow is a contemporary German artist. She lives and works in Cologne and Berlin.
Herbert Hoffmann was a German tattoo artist and photographer.
Manfred Schneckenburger was a German art historian and curator of modern and contemporary art. He was the curator of the documenta art exhibition twice, documenta 6 in 1977 and documenta 8 in 1987. He was the only person outside of the exhibition’s founder, Arnold Bode to have led documenta twice.
Michael Najjar is a German photographer, adventurer and future astronaut. He was born 1966 in Landau, Germany. Since 1988, he has lived and worked in Berlin.
Stephan Huber is a German sculptor and object artist.
Gregor Hildebrandt is a German contemporary artist who lives and works in Berlin, Germany
Anatol Herzfeld was a German sculptor and mixed-media artist, and also a policeman. A student of Joseph Beuys, he primarily used wood, iron and stone as materials. As an artist, he simply signed Anatol. He received attention for a happening, crossing the Rhine in a boat he created with Beuys, after Beuys had been expelled from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.
Asta Gröting is a contemporary artist. She works in a variety of media like sculpture, performance, and video. In her work, Gröting “is conceptually and emotionally asking questions of the social body by taking something away from it and allowing this absence to do the talking.”
Eva Moll is a German contemporary artist. Moll works in the media fine art printmaking, drawing and painting and its expansion in the areas of performance art and conceptual art. Beside works on canvas and paper; Happening, video art and installation count to her Œuvre. A large part of her work stands in the traditions of appropriation art, pop art, fluxus and action painting. She lives and works in New York and Berlin.
Karlheinz Bux is a German artist concentrating on drawing and sculpture works.
Marianne Eigenheer was a Swiss artist. She was active both as an academic and as a working artist who displayed works in Europe, Australia, and the United States. Her work was done mostly on small and large canvasses, including some wall drawings. She resided in Basel and London.
Christoph Doswald is a Swiss publicist, curator und university lecturer.
F. C. Gundlach is a German photographer, gallery owner, collector, curator und founder.
Christine Streuli is a Swiss-born contemporary artist who lives and works in Berlin, Germany.