Parts and Time

Amy Stacey Curtis (b. 1970, Beverly, Massachusetts) focuses on participatory works. She initiates each of her works which are then perpetuated and resolved by audience. For each installation, Curtis instigates a desired vision through provided guidance (these instructions are as much part of installation as other elements). Then, by relinquishing these concepts to her collaborative audience, her work sometimes proceeds in unanticipated ways. Key to Curtis is the fact that the audience does not always follow instructions/interprets instructions and that this is part of the art.

The instructions for “Turn II” are:

“Choosing randomly, turn cubes so black side facing out.
When all cubes black:
Choosing randomly, turn cubes so white side facing out.
When all cubes white:
Choosing randomly, turn cubes so black side facing out…
If unsure whether cubes turning black or white, choose.”

From 1998 to 2016, Curtis completed an 18-year project, 9 solo-biennial exhibits of large-in-scope, interactive art in 9 vast mill spaces throughout Maine. In the end, Curtis mounted 81 participatory installations while cleaning, by hand, each historic space (averaging 25,000 square feet). Each solo biennial was a 22-month process exploring a different, predetermined theme and inviting audience to activate each exhibit’s 9 unique works. After her 18-year project was finished, Curtis had been working toward new interactive projects in her studio when she was debilitated by neurological illness. After 2 psychiatric wards, the start of severe movement and speech disorder, and 15 months of unknowns, it was finally determined that Curtis had suffered a brain injury caused by never-treated Lyme Disease. Since the start of her disability in March 2017—all while progressing from wheelchair, to walker, to cane, back to her feet—Curtis has been presenting new interactive concepts with help from assistants, curators, and the arts community. Curtis works from Lyman, Maine.

Curtis has been the recipient of The Maine Arts Commission’s 2005 and 2017 Individual Artist Fellow For Visual Art and the recipient of numerous grants including those from Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, Curtis has exhibited interactive art internationally and her work is in numerous museum collections.

Amy Stacey Curtis (b. 1970, Beverly, Massachusetts) focuses on participatory works. She initiates each of her works which are then perpetuated and resolved by audience. For each installation, Curtis instigates a desired vision through provided guidance (these instructions are as much part of installation as other elements). Then, by relinquishing these concepts to her collaborative audience, her work sometimes proceeds in unanticipated ways. Key to Curtis is the fact that the audience does not always follow instructions/interprets instructions and that this is part of the art.

The instructions for “Turn II” are:

“Choosing randomly, turn cubes so black side facing out.
When all cubes black:
Choosing randomly, turn cubes so white side facing out.
When all cubes white:
Choosing randomly, turn cubes so black side facing out…
If unsure whether cubes turning black or white, choose.”

From 1998 to 2016, Curtis completed an 18-year project, 9 solo-biennial exhibits of large-in-scope, interactive art in 9 vast mill spaces throughout Maine. In the end, Curtis mounted 81 participatory installations while cleaning, by hand, each historic space (averaging 25,000 square feet). Each solo biennial was a 22-month process exploring a different, predetermined theme and inviting audience to activate each exhibit’s 9 unique works. After her 18-year project was finished, Curtis had been working toward new interactive projects in her studio when she was debilitated by neurological illness. After 2 psychiatric wards, the start of severe movement and speech disorder, and 15 months of unknowns, it was finally determined that Curtis had suffered a brain injury caused by never-treated Lyme Disease. Since the start of her disability in March 2017—all while progressing from wheelchair, to walker, to cane, back to her feet—Curtis has been presenting new interactive concepts with help from assistants, curators, and the arts community. Curtis works from Lyman, Maine.

Curtis has been the recipient of The Maine Arts Commission’s 2005 and 2017 Individual Artist Fellow For Visual Art and the recipient of numerous grants including those from Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, Curtis has exhibited interactive art internationally and her work is in numerous museum collections.

Amy Stacey Curtis (b. 1970, Beverly, Massachusetts) focuses on participatory works. She initiates each of her works which are then perpetuated and resolved by audience. For each installation, Curtis instigates a desired vision through provided guidance (these instructions are as much part of installation as other elements). Then, by relinquishing these concepts to her collaborative audience, her work sometimes proceeds in unanticipated ways. Key to Curtis is the fact that the audience does not always follow instructions/interprets instructions and that this is part of the art.

The instructions for “Turn II” are:

“Choosing randomly, turn cubes so black side facing out.
When all cubes black:
Choosing randomly, turn cubes so white side facing out.
When all cubes white:
Choosing randomly, turn cubes so black side facing out…
If unsure whether cubes turning black or white, choose.”

From 1998 to 2016, Curtis completed an 18-year project, 9 solo-biennial exhibits of large-in-scope, interactive art in 9 vast mill spaces throughout Maine. In the end, Curtis mounted 81 participatory installations while cleaning, by hand, each historic space (averaging 25,000 square feet). Each solo biennial was a 22-month process exploring a different, predetermined theme and inviting audience to activate each exhibit’s 9 unique works. After her 18-year project was finished, Curtis had been working toward new interactive projects in her studio when she was debilitated by neurological illness. After 2 psychiatric wards, the start of severe movement and speech disorder, and 15 months of unknowns, it was finally determined that Curtis had suffered a brain injury caused by never-treated Lyme Disease. Since the start of her disability in March 2017—all while progressing from wheelchair, to walker, to cane, back to her feet—Curtis has been presenting new interactive concepts with help from assistants, curators, and the arts community. Curtis works from Lyman, Maine.

Curtis has been the recipient of The Maine Arts Commission’s 2005 and 2017 Individual Artist Fellow For Visual Art and the recipient of numerous grants including those from Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, Curtis has exhibited interactive art internationally and her work is in numerous museum collections.

Amy Stacey Curtis (b. 1970, Beverly, Massachusetts) focuses on participatory works. She initiates each of her works which are then perpetuated and resolved by audience. For each installation, Curtis instigates a desired vision through provided guidance (these instructions are as much part of installation as other elements). Then, by relinquishing these concepts to her collaborative audience, her work sometimes proceeds in unanticipated ways. Key to Curtis is the fact that the audience does not always follow instructions/interprets instructions and that this is part of the art.

The instructions for “Turn II” are:

“Choosing randomly, turn cubes so black side facing out.
When all cubes black:
Choosing randomly, turn cubes so white side facing out.
When all cubes white:
Choosing randomly, turn cubes so black side facing out…
If unsure whether cubes turning black or white, choose.”

From 1998 to 2016, Curtis completed an 18-year project, 9 solo-biennial exhibits of large-in-scope, interactive art in 9 vast mill spaces throughout Maine. In the end, Curtis mounted 81 participatory installations while cleaning, by hand, each historic space (averaging 25,000 square feet). Each solo biennial was a 22-month process exploring a different, predetermined theme and inviting audience to activate each exhibit’s 9 unique works. After her 18-year project was finished, Curtis had been working toward new interactive projects in her studio when she was debilitated by neurological illness. After 2 psychiatric wards, the start of severe movement and speech disorder, and 15 months of unknowns, it was finally determined that Curtis had suffered a brain injury caused by never-treated Lyme Disease. Since the start of her disability in March 2017—all while progressing from wheelchair, to walker, to cane, back to her feet—Curtis has been presenting new interactive concepts with help from assistants, curators, and the arts community. Curtis works from Lyman, Maine.

Curtis has been the recipient of The Maine Arts Commission’s 2005 and 2017 Individual Artist Fellow For Visual Art and the recipient of numerous grants including those from Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, Curtis has exhibited interactive art internationally and her work is in numerous museum collections.

Amy Stacey Curtis (b. 1970, Beverly, Massachusetts) focuses on participatory works. She initiates each of her works which are then perpetuated and resolved by audience. For each installation, Curtis instigates a desired vision through provided guidance (these instructions are as much part of installation as other elements). Then, by relinquishing these concepts to her collaborative audience, her work sometimes proceeds in unanticipated ways. Key to Curtis is the fact that the audience does not always follow instructions/interprets instructions and that this is part of the art.

The instructions for “Turn II” are:

“Choosing randomly, turn cubes so black side facing out.
When all cubes black:
Choosing randomly, turn cubes so white side facing out.
When all cubes white:
Choosing randomly, turn cubes so black side facing out…
If unsure whether cubes turning black or white, choose.”

From 1998 to 2016, Curtis completed an 18-year project, 9 solo-biennial exhibits of large-in-scope, interactive art in 9 vast mill spaces throughout Maine. In the end, Curtis mounted 81 participatory installations while cleaning, by hand, each historic space (averaging 25,000 square feet). Each solo biennial was a 22-month process exploring a different, predetermined theme and inviting audience to activate each exhibit’s 9 unique works. After her 18-year project was finished, Curtis had been working toward new interactive projects in her studio when she was debilitated by neurological illness. After 2 psychiatric wards, the start of severe movement and speech disorder, and 15 months of unknowns, it was finally determined that Curtis had suffered a brain injury caused by never-treated Lyme Disease. Since the start of her disability in March 2017—all while progressing from wheelchair, to walker, to cane, back to her feet—Curtis has been presenting new interactive concepts with help from assistants, curators, and the arts community. Curtis works from Lyman, Maine.

Curtis has been the recipient of The Maine Arts Commission’s 2005 and 2017 Individual Artist Fellow For Visual Art and the recipient of numerous grants including those from Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, Curtis has exhibited interactive art internationally and her work is in numerous museum collections.

Amy Stacey Curtis (b. 1970, Beverly, Massachusetts) focuses on participatory works. She initiates each of her works which are then perpetuated and resolved by audience. For each installation, Curtis instigates a desired vision through provided guidance (these instructions are as much part of installation as other elements). Then, by relinquishing these concepts to her collaborative audience, her work sometimes proceeds in unanticipated ways. Key to Curtis is the fact that the audience does not always follow instructions/interprets instructions and that this is part of the art.

The instructions for “Turn II” are:

“Choosing randomly, turn cubes so black side facing out.
When all cubes black:
Choosing randomly, turn cubes so white side facing out.
When all cubes white:
Choosing randomly, turn cubes so black side facing out…
If unsure whether cubes turning black or white, choose.”

From 1998 to 2016, Curtis completed an 18-year project, 9 solo-biennial exhibits of large-in-scope, interactive art in 9 vast mill spaces throughout Maine. In the end, Curtis mounted 81 participatory installations while cleaning, by hand, each historic space (averaging 25,000 square feet). Each solo biennial was a 22-month process exploring a different, predetermined theme and inviting audience to activate each exhibit’s 9 unique works. After her 18-year project was finished, Curtis had been working toward new interactive projects in her studio when she was debilitated by neurological illness. After 2 psychiatric wards, the start of severe movement and speech disorder, and 15 months of unknowns, it was finally determined that Curtis had suffered a brain injury caused by never-treated Lyme Disease. Since the start of her disability in March 2017—all while progressing from wheelchair, to walker, to cane, back to her feet—Curtis has been presenting new interactive concepts with help from assistants, curators, and the arts community. Curtis works from Lyman, Maine.

Curtis has been the recipient of The Maine Arts Commission’s 2005 and 2017 Individual Artist Fellow For Visual Art and the recipient of numerous grants including those from Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, Curtis has exhibited interactive art internationally and her work is in numerous museum collections.

Amy Stacey Curtis (b. 1970, Beverly, Massachusetts) focuses on participatory works. She initiates each of her works which are then perpetuated and resolved by audience. For each installation, Curtis instigates a desired vision through provided guidance (these instructions are as much part of installation as other elements). Then, by relinquishing these concepts to her collaborative audience, her work sometimes proceeds in unanticipated ways. Key to Curtis is the fact that the audience does not always follow instructions/interprets instructions and that this is part of the art.

The instructions for “Turn II” are:

“Choosing randomly, turn cubes so black side facing out.
When all cubes black:
Choosing randomly, turn cubes so white side facing out.
When all cubes white:
Choosing randomly, turn cubes so black side facing out…
If unsure whether cubes turning black or white, choose.”

From 1998 to 2016, Curtis completed an 18-year project, 9 solo-biennial exhibits of large-in-scope, interactive art in 9 vast mill spaces throughout Maine. In the end, Curtis mounted 81 participatory installations while cleaning, by hand, each historic space (averaging 25,000 square feet). Each solo biennial was a 22-month process exploring a different, predetermined theme and inviting audience to activate each exhibit’s 9 unique works. After her 18-year project was finished, Curtis had been working toward new interactive projects in her studio when she was debilitated by neurological illness. After 2 psychiatric wards, the start of severe movement and speech disorder, and 15 months of unknowns, it was finally determined that Curtis had suffered a brain injury caused by never-treated Lyme Disease. Since the start of her disability in March 2017—all while progressing from wheelchair, to walker, to cane, back to her feet—Curtis has been presenting new interactive concepts with help from assistants, curators, and the arts community. Curtis works from Lyman, Maine.

Curtis has been the recipient of The Maine Arts Commission’s 2005 and 2017 Individual Artist Fellow For Visual Art and the recipient of numerous grants including those from Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, Curtis has exhibited interactive art internationally and her work is in numerous museum collections.

Eleanor Antin created “100 Boots” over two-and-a-half years in the early 1970’s. It consists of 51 photographic postcards, each of 100 black rubber boots in a dramatic or enigmatic situation. The postcards were mailed at irregular intervals, ranging from 3 days to 5 weeks, to people and institutions around the world. A full set is an exceedingly rare occurrence 50 years after the work was created.

MoMA, NY’s press release for the museum’s 1973 exhibition of “100 Boots” states:
The artist originally thought of “100 Boots” as a picaresque novel in the manner of Huckleberry Finn or Kerouac’s On the Road. However, she quickly saw its potential as a film “so I sold myself the movie rights.” As more cards were produced she began to see them as highlighted frames from a lengthy movie serial such as “The Perils of Pauline.” Each postcard includes a photograph of the boots (all photographs have been taken by Philip Steinmetz), a title for the particular adventure (e.g. “100 Boots on the Way to Church,” “100 Boots at the Saloon,” “100 Boots Taking the Hill”), and the date, time, and place at which the picture was taken. Individual images were not necessarily mailed in the same sequence in which they were taken. Rather, the artist re-orders distinct events into a continuous narrative, the structure of which emerges with the distribution of the work over a period of time. The boots started in the establishment culture (“At the Bank,” “In the Market”), then committed their first crime (“100 Boots Trespass”), after which they embarked on a series of adventures at deserted ranches, on river boats, in and out of odd jobs, and even had a love affair with a sad ending.

While most of the activities took place in California, where Antin lived, the boots’ exploits concluded in New York City (on the Staten Island Ferry, in Central Park, at a Greek night club, under the Brooklyn Bridge, and at various other locations), the series’ penultimate card has the boots going into MoMA for their show (where the 50 cards were shown for the first time). The final card shows the boots after the exhibition, “on vacation.”

Eleanor Antin works in drawing, film, installation, performance, photography, video, and writing. Her practices blur fiction and history, often with humorous wit, theatrical sensibility, and allegorical impulse. One-woman exhibitions include the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum and a major retrospective at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which traveled to St. Louis and toured the United Kingdom. She has been in major group exhibitions at the Hirshhorn Museum, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Kunsthalle Wien, the Sydney Biennale, the Beaubourg, and Documenta 12, among others. She is represented in major collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, Whitney Museum, Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Beaubourg, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Jewish Museum, New York, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among many others. As a performance artist, she has appeared in venues around the world including the Venice Biennale and the Sydney Opera House. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 from the Women’s Caucus of the College Art Association; in 2002, the Best Show Award from the AICA (International Association of Art Critics), and earlier in 1999, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the National Foundation for Jewish Culture Media Achievement Award.

Eleanor Antin created “100 Boots” over two-and-a-half years in the early 1970’s. It consists of 51 photographic postcards, each of 100 black rubber boots in a dramatic or enigmatic situation. The postcards were mailed at irregular intervals, ranging from 3 days to 5 weeks, to people and institutions around the world. A full set is an exceedingly rare occurrence 50 years after the work was created.

MoMA, NY’s press release for the museum’s 1973 exhibition of “100 Boots” states:
The artist originally thought of “100 Boots” as a picaresque novel in the manner of Huckleberry Finn or Kerouac’s On the Road. However, she quickly saw its potential as a film “so I sold myself the movie rights.” As more cards were produced she began to see them as highlighted frames from a lengthy movie serial such as “The Perils of Pauline.” Each postcard includes a photograph of the boots (all photographs have been taken by Philip Steinmetz), a title for the particular adventure (e.g. “100 Boots on the Way to Church,” “100 Boots at the Saloon,” “100 Boots Taking the Hill”), and the date, time, and place at which the picture was taken. Individual images were not necessarily mailed in the same sequence in which they were taken. Rather, the artist re-orders distinct events into a continuous narrative, the structure of which emerges with the distribution of the work over a period of time. The boots started in the establishment culture (“At the Bank,” “In the Market”), then committed their first crime (“100 Boots Trespass”), after which they embarked on a series of adventures at deserted ranches, on river boats, in and out of odd jobs, and even had a love affair with a sad ending.

While most of the activities took place in California, where Antin lived, the boots’ exploits concluded in New York City (on the Staten Island Ferry, in Central Park, at a Greek night club, under the Brooklyn Bridge, and at various other locations), the series’ penultimate card has the boots going into MoMA for their show (where the 50 cards were shown for the first time). The final card shows the boots after the exhibition, “on vacation.”

Eleanor Antin works in drawing, film, installation, performance, photography, video, and writing. Her practices blur fiction and history, often with humorous wit, theatrical sensibility, and allegorical impulse. One-woman exhibitions include the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum and a major retrospective at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which traveled to St. Louis and toured the United Kingdom. She has been in major group exhibitions at the Hirshhorn Museum, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Kunsthalle Wien, the Sydney Biennale, the Beaubourg, and Documenta 12, among others. She is represented in major collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, Whitney Museum, Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Beaubourg, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Jewish Museum, New York, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among many others. As a performance artist, she has appeared in venues around the world including the Venice Biennale and the Sydney Opera House. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 from the Women’s Caucus of the College Art Association; in 2002, the Best Show Award from the AICA (International Association of Art Critics), and earlier in 1999, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the National Foundation for Jewish Culture Media Achievement Award.

Eleanor Antin created “100 Boots” over two-and-a-half years in the early 1970’s. It consists of 51 photographic postcards, each of 100 black rubber boots in a dramatic or enigmatic situation. The postcards were mailed at irregular intervals, ranging from 3 days to 5 weeks, to people and institutions around the world. A full set is an exceedingly rare occurrence 50 years after the work was created.

MoMA, NY’s press release for the museum’s 1973 exhibition of “100 Boots” states:
The artist originally thought of “100 Boots” as a picaresque novel in the manner of Huckleberry Finn or Kerouac’s On the Road. However, she quickly saw its potential as a film “so I sold myself the movie rights.” As more cards were produced she began to see them as highlighted frames from a lengthy movie serial such as “The Perils of Pauline.” Each postcard includes a photograph of the boots (all photographs have been taken by Philip Steinmetz), a title for the particular adventure (e.g. “100 Boots on the Way to Church,” “100 Boots at the Saloon,” “100 Boots Taking the Hill”), and the date, time, and place at which the picture was taken. Individual images were not necessarily mailed in the same sequence in which they were taken. Rather, the artist re-orders distinct events into a continuous narrative, the structure of which emerges with the distribution of the work over a period of time. The boots started in the establishment culture (“At the Bank,” “In the Market”), then committed their first crime (“100 Boots Trespass”), after which they embarked on a series of adventures at deserted ranches, on river boats, in and out of odd jobs, and even had a love affair with a sad ending.

While most of the activities took place in California, where Antin lived, the boots’ exploits concluded in New York City (on the Staten Island Ferry, in Central Park, at a Greek night club, under the Brooklyn Bridge, and at various other locations), the series’ penultimate card has the boots going into MoMA for their show (where the 50 cards were shown for the first time). The final card shows the boots after the exhibition, “on vacation.”

Eleanor Antin works in drawing, film, installation, performance, photography, video, and writing. Her practices blur fiction and history, often with humorous wit, theatrical sensibility, and allegorical impulse. One-woman exhibitions include the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum and a major retrospective at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which traveled to St. Louis and toured the United Kingdom. She has been in major group exhibitions at the Hirshhorn Museum, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Kunsthalle Wien, the Sydney Biennale, the Beaubourg, and Documenta 12, among others. She is represented in major collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, Whitney Museum, Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Beaubourg, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Jewish Museum, New York, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among many others. As a performance artist, she has appeared in venues around the world including the Venice Biennale and the Sydney Opera House. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 from the Women’s Caucus of the College Art Association; in 2002, the Best Show Award from the AICA (International Association of Art Critics), and earlier in 1999, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the National Foundation for Jewish Culture Media Achievement Award.

Eleanor Antin created “100 Boots” over two-and-a-half years in the early 1970’s. It consists of 51 photographic postcards, each of 100 black rubber boots in a dramatic or enigmatic situation. The postcards were mailed at irregular intervals, ranging from 3 days to 5 weeks, to people and institutions around the world. A full set is an exceedingly rare occurrence 50 years after the work was created.

MoMA, NY’s press release for the museum’s 1973 exhibition of “100 Boots” states:
The artist originally thought of “100 Boots” as a picaresque novel in the manner of Huckleberry Finn or Kerouac’s On the Road. However, she quickly saw its potential as a film “so I sold myself the movie rights.” As more cards were produced she began to see them as highlighted frames from a lengthy movie serial such as “The Perils of Pauline.” Each postcard includes a photograph of the boots (all photographs have been taken by Philip Steinmetz), a title for the particular adventure (e.g. “100 Boots on the Way to Church,” “100 Boots at the Saloon,” “100 Boots Taking the Hill”), and the date, time, and place at which the picture was taken. Individual images were not necessarily mailed in the same sequence in which they were taken. Rather, the artist re-orders distinct events into a continuous narrative, the structure of which emerges with the distribution of the work over a period of time. The boots started in the establishment culture (“At the Bank,” “In the Market”), then committed their first crime (“100 Boots Trespass”), after which they embarked on a series of adventures at deserted ranches, on river boats, in and out of odd jobs, and even had a love affair with a sad ending.

While most of the activities took place in California, where Antin lived, the boots’ exploits concluded in New York City (on the Staten Island Ferry, in Central Park, at a Greek night club, under the Brooklyn Bridge, and at various other locations), the series’ penultimate card has the boots going into MoMA for their show (where the 50 cards were shown for the first time). The final card shows the boots after the exhibition, “on vacation.”

Eleanor Antin works in drawing, film, installation, performance, photography, video, and writing. Her practices blur fiction and history, often with humorous wit, theatrical sensibility, and allegorical impulse. One-woman exhibitions include the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum and a major retrospective at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which traveled to St. Louis and toured the United Kingdom. She has been in major group exhibitions at the Hirshhorn Museum, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Kunsthalle Wien, the Sydney Biennale, the Beaubourg, and Documenta 12, among others. She is represented in major collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, Whitney Museum, Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Beaubourg, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Jewish Museum, New York, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among many others. As a performance artist, she has appeared in venues around the world including the Venice Biennale and the Sydney Opera House. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 from the Women’s Caucus of the College Art Association; in 2002, the Best Show Award from the AICA (International Association of Art Critics), and earlier in 1999, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the National Foundation for Jewish Culture Media Achievement Award.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.

Franz Erhard Walther’s “Handlungsbuch II (Handling Book II)” from 1963/1969 is a sewn work of raw cotton, consisting of a cover, spine, back cover and twenty-nine “pages” with loops, pockets, fold-out parts, et cetera. In its static state, whether opened or closed, the piece has formal properties that clearly relate it to a book. In the normal experience of reading a book, one turns pages and reads text or views images. With this work, the pages (not what is on them) are the focus. The different fabric forms of each page are designed for actions as straightforward as unfolding or as treacherous (also silly) as inserting one’s head into an enclosed “pocket” . The potential activities are suggested by the forms of the pages and so a viewer activates the “book” by turning the “pages” and exploring each page’s form. As the critic Michael Upchurch wrote, “The work can seem dry or even sterile, more like the contents of some eccentric linen warehouse than an artistic endeavor, but when its human component is put into action, it becomes both playful and testing.”

Franz Erhard Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he now lives and works. He has pioneered intermedia and participatory art since the late 1950’s and gained recognition in the 1960’s. He want then included in important group exhibitions such as “When Attitudes Become Form” (1969, curated by Harald Szeeman at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale), “Documenta V” (Kassel, 1972, also curated by Szeeman), and “Spaces,” curated by Jennifer Licht at MOMA (1969-1970). His work is in many public collections, including Museum of Modern Art, Dia Art Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, The Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunsthaus Zürich, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and MAMCO Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Fundacion Jumex Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany (2017); Reina Sofia, Madrid (2017); Power Plant, Toronto (2016); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2015-2016); MUDAM, Luxembourg (2015); WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels (2014); and CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2014). Dia Art Foundation, New York has recently opened a long term presentation of Walther’s work from the 1960’s at Dia:Beacon.