Angelika Wischermann

Angelika Wischermann’s works have a strong reference to action or activity. Expansion of time, repetition, and compulsively performed activities play a central role in her oeuvre. Absurdity and meaninglessness are created through great effort or a massive expansion of time, seamingly leading to nothing. The emptying of meaning brings actions and processes into focus. In addition, Wischermann’s work uses time and repetition to express a longing for stability.

Wischermann does outdoor performances and interventions, video performances, works with objects, and installations. On closer look, the diverse body of work in different media and techniques is always based on slightly varying themes and methodologies. By this, live and video performances directly depict activities and processes and make time tangible through repetition, endurance, and effort. Prolonged, constantly repeated actions can also create traces, imprints, and inscriptions. When Wischermann repeatedly applies her body in the same way to an object or material, it begins to change or wear away. This leads to the emergence of objects telling their own story and bearing witness to the action that has taken place.

Wischermann’s works and projects often relate to the site of their presentation. They also reflect on the conditions and circumstances of what is found on site. Material characteristics and processes constantly taking place in nature are used for the realization of the project or addressed in the production process.
Working against the constant, insurmountable passage of time is impossible, but intensive immersion in an activity can create a highly satisfying flow. Alongside the negative connotations of stupidity, stagnation, and transience, repetition can also be read as something familiar and reassuring.