Biography

Born and educated in Heidelberg; university studies at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste (Academy of Fine Arts) in Munich and the Hochschule für Bildende Künste (1st State examination); further University studies in art history, philosophy and psychology at the University of Bochum (PhD; thesis on problems central to the reception of art; supervisor: Max Imdahl); then again active as an artist: material pictures and artistic performances, study of the aesthetics of the microchips.

1979 Residency in Japan, since 1982 invited lectures and performances, e.g. at the Museum of Modern Art in Bochum, the Academy of the Arts in Berlin, the Art Space Castle Buchberg and the University Graz, Austria; 1985 and 86 Residencies France, Ireland and Italy; Design drafts for conversions of old buildings (farm, granary, stable); since 1985 various solo and group exhibitions in Germany and abroad, e.g. in Berlin, Munich, Vienna, New York, Yokohama (Japan) and Xi’an (China).

1983-85 Lecturer at Berlin-Kolleg (2. State examination), then freelanced, 1987-92 teaching assistant at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste (University of the Arts) in Berlin; since 1992 active as an independent artist; start of the production of Spatial Pictures, 1993-95 classes for painting and collage at the Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts (Atelier del Sur), 1995 scholarship City of Salzburg.

1996-2019 university professorship for visual arts at Leibniz Universität Hannover; conceptual design of artistic-scientific research and teaching; since 1998 director of the Institute for Aesthetic Education, later Design Practice and Art Science (IGK); transdisciplinary projects and establishment of international cooperations; main areas of research: pictorial spaces, interrelationships between artistic practice and theoretical concepts as well as their linguisticization and mediation.