Bettina Pousttchi

Bettina Pousttchi 2023

Bettina Pousttchi(born 1971) is a German artist of German-Iranian descent. She currently lives in Berlin. She has worked inphotography,sculpture,videoandsite-specific installation.

Life

In 1990-1992, she studied fine art at the Université de Paris. Then in 1992-1997, studied philosophy, art history and film theory at the Universities of Cologne and Bochum. She studied at theKunstakademie DüsseldorfunderRosemarie TrockelandGerhard Merzin 1995-1999. From 1999-2000, she followed the Independent Studio Program of theWhitney Museum of American Artin New York.She had work in theVenice Biennalein 2003 and again in 2009.In 2014, she received theKunstpreis der Stadt Wolfsburgof theStädtische Galerie Wolfsburg,inWolfsburginLower Saxony.

Work

Vertical Highways(2023) at Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Germany

World Time Clock

In 2016–2017 her photographic seriesWorld Time Clockwas shown at theHirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Gardenin a 360-degree presentation; it consisted of twenty-four photographs of clock-faces, one from each of the major time zones of the world, and all taken at five minutes to two.World Time Clock is the artist's most comprehensive photographic series to date for which she travelled eight years in several stages in the world's various time zones. In each of the places she photographed public clocks always at the same time. Thus arose a work spanning the entire globe which examines the political and social organization of time and space. After its initial full circle presentation at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington DC the series was also presented in Berlin at theBerlinische Galerie,Museum of Modern Art Berlin in 2019/2020.

Façades in public space

Since 2009, Bettina Pousttchi has been realizing photographic interventions on public buildings, which are related to the urban and historic context of each particular place. Her monumental photo installationEchoonSchlossplatzinBerlincovered the entire exterior façade of theTemporäre Kunsthallefor half a year. Extending nearly 2,000 square meters, the installation consisted of 970 different paper posters, and formed a continuous motif that recalled the Palast der Republik (Palace of the Republic), the building which had just been demolished on that very site.

In 2014, the artist transformed theNasher Sculpture CenterDallas into a Drive-Thru Museum, referencing the site's history and the architecture of theRenzo Pianobuilding.Her up to now largest photo installation to this point isThe City(2014), which covered three sides of theWolfsburg castlewith a 2,150 square meter photographic print. Thephotomontageshows tenskyscrapersthat have been the world's highest buildings, grouping them together into an imaginary single transnationalskyline.

On the occasion of her survey exhibitionIn Recent Years2019-2020 atBerlinische Galerie,she transformed the entire glass facade of the museum with the photo installationBerlin Window.

Konzerthaus Berlincommissioned the artist 2021 on the occasion of their bicentennial with the work,Amplifiertransforming the historical building byKarl Friedrich SchinkelonGendarmenmarkt.For the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn the artist has realized in 2022 the rooftop intsllationThe Curve,a 37 meter long participatory sculpture that invites the viewer to use the object.

Sculptures

Since 2005 Pousttchi’s sculptural works often use street furniture like street bollards, crowd barriers or bike racks as a starting point.She transforms these everyday objects into new sculptural compositions of various colors and surfaces. Her most recent sculpturesVertical Highwaysare transformations of crash barriers.The vertical alignment and modular use of a prefabricated element change the viewer’s spatial perception and give the work an architectural reference.Three of these sculptures were presented at theTuileries GardeninParisin October 2021, as part of the outdoor exhibitionHors les Mursin front of theMusée du Louvre.Her largest sculpture of this series is 6 meter tall (20 feet) public sculpture that is located in front of theBerlin Central Stationat Washingtonplatz, one of the most frequented places in Berlin, vis-a-vis the Reichstag.

Collections

Examples of her work are held in various public collections, among them theHirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Gardenand thePhillips Collectionin Washington, D.C.,theArts Club of Chicago,theNasher Sculpture Centerin Dallas, Texas,theBerlinische Galeriein Berlin,theAlbertinain Vienna,theVon-der-Heydt MuseuminWuppertal,theKunsthalle Bielefeld,as well as in the collection of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Collaborations

The artist has been realizing artistic collaborations withRosemarie Trockeland DanielBuren,she has been part of a film by LawrenceWeinerand she was a member of the Brutally Early Clubfounded byHans Ulrich Obrist.

Grants and awards

2016: Villa Aurora, Los Angeles

2014: Wolfsburg Art Prize, Junge Stadt sieht Junge Kunst

2008: TrAIN, Research Center for Transnational Art, Identity and Nation, University of the Arts, London

2007: BBAX - Berlin Buenos Aires Art Exchange

2005: Provinzial Förderprojekt

2000: Kunststiftung NRW

Exhibitions

• Museum Morsbroich,Leverkusen(2001)
• Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart(2003)
• Von der Heydt Museum,Wuppertal(2007)
• Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin(2009/2010)
• Kunsthalle Basel(2011)
• Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt(2012)
• Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg(2014)
• Nasher Sculpture Center,Dallas,Texas (2014)
• The Phillips Collection,Washington D.C.(2016)
• Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C (2016/2017)
• The Arts Club of Chicago(2017)
• Kunsthalle Mainz(with Daniel Buren) (2017)
• Kunstmuseum St. Gallen(2018)
• Neues Museum Nürnberg(2018)
• Kunsthalle Tübingen(2019/2020)
• KINDL – Centre of Contemporary Art Berlin (2019/2020)
• Berlinische Galerie,Berlin (2019/2020)
• Konzerthaus Berlin (2021)
• Arp Museum, Remagen (2021/2022)
• Bundeskunsthalle,Bonn(2022)
• Aurora Museum, Shanghai (2023)
• Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai(2023)
• Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich (2024)