Jochen Gerz

Born in Berlin in 1940, Jochen Gerz spent most of his life in Paris. Since 2008 he is based in Ireland. After beginning his career in the literary field Gerz started working as a conceptual artist with new media in the late 1960s. He participated in documenta 6 and 8 and represented Germany in the 37th Venice Biennale. His work has been shown in group and solo exhibitions, as well as retrospectives, in European and North-American museums.

Since the 1980s, he has created his iconic Counter-monuments calling on the creative potential of people which influences not only daily life and the individual development, but also aims at the social interplay at large, public authorship. Whether he works with text, photography, video, installation, performance, or in public space, at the heart of his practice is the search for an art form that contributes to the res publica and to democracy today.

Awards (selection): German Art Critics Prize, Berlin 1996; Ordre National du Mérite, Paris 1996; Peter Weiss-Prize, Bochum 1996; Grand Prix National des Arts Visuels, Paris 1998; Prix Evens, Antwerpen 2002.

Positions: Member of the Academy of the Arts, Berlin. Honorary Chair at the Braunschweig Art University.