Artists

Hünerfauth, Irma

Wie Gras sein ..., 1983
Courtesy: Irma Hünerfauth; (c) Fellbach Triennale; Foto: Peter Hartung

Irma Hünerfauth developed an impressive oeuvre in post-war Germany, marked by independence and innovation. The artist was quick to note social and ecological problems with the country’s so-called “economic miracle” and tackled them with particular vehemence in her work. Initially a painter, Hünerfauth gradually expanded her practice to engage with three-dimensional space. She learned to weld, a process that allowed her to create sculptures from found objects and scrap metal. She also experimented with electrical elements, employing them in artworks that a viewer could activate to trigger sound- or other mechanical effects. Hünerfauth’s Sprechenden Kästen (Speaking Boxes, starting 1972) - her miniature, sculptural panoramas in Plexiglas display cases, made from electrical scraps including wires, buttons, and screws - are among the best-known pieces in her kinetic Vibrationsobjekte (Vibration Objects) series. In them, we find a clear, energetic airing of the sociopolitical grievances of the day. Many of the panoramas have the look of dystopian landscapes, a facet Hünerfauth underscores with added recordings of texts addressing such topics as environmental pollution and war. Boxes including Wie Gras sein ... (To Be Like Grass, 1983) also speak directly to the viewer, to immediate effect.
Hünerfauth’s Vereinsamung (Isolation, 1988) references life in modern cities and the social reality created by architecture. As a single block with numerous windows - some of which offer glimpses of human life - Vereinsamung evokes the high-rise buildings that had recently sprung up all over West Germany, particularly in the suburban “commuter towns” created in response to the acute housing shortage after World War II. Hünerfauth lived and worked near Munich, where two new neighborhoods - Hasenbergl and Neuperlach exemplify this history. In the late 1980s, when the social problems of large housing estates had long since become obvious, Hünerfauth’s work reflects on social isolation and the contradictions between individualism and conformity in Western societies. Her pointed critique continues to resonate to this day.

Text: Sebastian Schneider; englische Übersetzung: Amy Patton

Irma Hünerfauth developed an impressive oeuvre in post-war Germany, marked by independence and innovation. The artist was quick to note social and ecological problems with the country’s so-called “economic miracle” and tackled them with particular vehemence in her work. Initially a painter, Hünerfauth gradually expanded her practice to engage with three-dimensional space. She learned to weld, a process that allowed her to create sculptures from found objects and scrap metal. She also experimented with electrical elements, employing them in artworks that a viewer could activate to trigger sound- or other mechanical effects. Hünerfauth’s Sprechenden Kästen (Speaking Boxes, starting 1972) - her miniature, sculptural panoramas in Plexiglas display cases, made from electrical scraps including wires, buttons, and screws - are among the best-known pieces in her kinetic Vibrationsobjekte (Vibration Objects) series. In them, we find a clear, energetic airing of the sociopolitical grievances of the day. Many of the panoramas have the look of dystopian landscapes, a facet Hünerfauth underscores with added recordings of texts addressing such topics as environmental pollution and war. Boxes including Wie Gras sein ... (To Be Like Grass, 1983) also speak directly to the viewer, to immediate effect.
Hünerfauth’s Vereinsamung (Isolation, 1988) references life in modern cities and the social reality created by architecture. As a single block with numerous windows - some of which offer glimpses of human life - Vereinsamung evokes the high-rise buildings that had recently sprung up all over West Germany, particularly in the suburban “commuter towns” created in response to the acute housing shortage after World War II. Hünerfauth lived and worked near Munich, where two new neighborhoods - Hasenbergl and Neuperlach exemplify this history. In the late 1980s, when the social problems of large housing estates had long since become obvious, Hünerfauth’s work reflects on social isolation and the contradictions between individualism and conformity in Western societies. Her pointed critique continues to resonate to this day.

Text: Sebastian Schneider; englische Übersetzung: Amy Patton

Wie Gras sein ..., 1983
Courtesy: Irma Hünerfauth; (c) Fellbach Triennale; Foto: Peter Hartung