velvet, cotton, thread, polyurethane, lacquer, paint, laminated paper, zip tie, frogs (Hester & Eldridge)
72 x 92 x 94 in
183 x 233.5 x 239 cm
installation view, Sin, JTT, New York
polar fleece, tweed, wood, screws, wheels, staples
189 x 189 x 23.5 in
480 x 480 x 60 cm
installation view, Duel, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn
polar fleece, tweed, wood, screws, wheels, staples
189 x 189 x 23.5 in
480 x 480 x 60 cm
installation view, Duel, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn
polar fleece, tweed, wood, screws, wheels, staples
189 x 189 x 23.5 in
480 x 480 x 60 cm
installation view, Duel, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn
installation of approximately 32 objects; metal, leather, textile, glue, fabric, jeans jacket, chlorid, wood, steel, plant, earth, bread, c-print, styrofoam, TV, plaster, concrete, terracotta, bones, plastic, can, coin, yarn, marker, laquer, paper, mirror glass, glass
dimensions variable
installation view, Duel, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn
installation of approximately 32 objects; metal, leather, textile, glue, fabric, jeans jacket, chlorid, wood, steel, plant, earth, bread, c-print, styrofoam, TV, plaster, concrete, terracotta, bones, plastic, can, coin, yarn, marker, laquer, paper, mirror glass, glass
dimensions variable
installation view, Duel, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn
HD video
49:06 minutes
installation view, Duel, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn
Something for Everyone, Everything for No One, 2021
laser prints on A4 paper, polyester, tailoring cotton, organza, suit fabrics, zippers, thread, chrome mannequin
installation view, You can have my brain, MACRO, Rome
Something for Everyone, Everything for No One, 2021
laser prints on A4 paper, polyester, tailoring cotton, organza, suit fabrics, zippers, thread, chrome mannequin
installation view, You can have my brain, MACRO, Rome
nylon, steel, thread
97 x 94.5 x 94.5 in
247 x 240 x 240 cm
installation view, A Failed Play, Cell Project Space, London
nylon, steel, thread
97 x 94.5 x 94.5 in
247 x 240 x 240 cm
installation view, A Failed Play, Cell Project Space, London
concrete
dimensions variable
installation view, Places to fight and to make up, mumok, Vienna
Berger borrowed this pair of acoustic reflectors from a public playground for her 2016 solo exhibition at mumok, Vienna. By standing in front of one of these discs, a participant can speak quietly and have their voice heard in the other installed nearly 100 feet away. The title of the exhibition, Places to fight and make up, was inspired by its simple technology. As public as their location may be, it is ripe for intimate conflict resolve as it allows for two individuals to speak openly without having to face one another. In the park over time, the structures accumulate graffiti, thus echoing not only a whispered gesture, but also conspicuous visual interventions by those whose spaces they inhabit. Removed from their original context, their presentation underscores the way civic structures often adapt from their intended functions to reflect the needs of those who engage with them.
concrete
dimensions variable
installation view, Places to fight and to make up, mumok, Vienna
wood, steel, laquer
10 x 86.5 x 19.5 in
25 x 220 x 50 cm
installation view, Places to fight and to make up, mumok, Vienna
28 aluminum ladders, zip ties
23.5 x 118 x 118 in
60 x 300 x 300 cm
installation view, A Failed Play, Cell Project Space, London
28 aluminum ladders, zip ties
23.5 x 118 x 118 in
60 x 300 x 300 cm
installation view, A Failed Play, Cell Project Space, London
400 Time mints “jagoda” (strawberry taste), wood, screws, plastic tarp
75 x 86.5 x 86.5 in
190 x 220 x 220 cm
installation view, Time, Eugster | Belgrade, Belgrade
400 Time mints “jagoda” (strawberry taste), wood, screws, plastic tarp
75 x 86.5 x 86.5 in
190 x 220 x 220 cm
installation view, Time, Eugster | Belgrade, Belgrade
acrylic paint on: egg liquor, canned lentils, fairtrade ground coffee, herbal tea, marzipan figurine, sugar, pvc, aluminum and polyester
14 x 18 x 27.5 in
36 x 46 x 70 cm
installation view, ars viva 2018, S.M.A.K., Ghent
A variety of packaged provisions sits atop a foldable tray table, their branding partly obscured by a single bold handprint rendered on each item in thick black paint. By titling this series of work Complicit, the artist addresses the concept of the consumer’s role. Under capitalism, Berger observes, individuals are identified and targeted by advertising as buyers, a role which fosters an illusion of choice and control. Her interest lies in the notion of the “ethical” consumer, produced through this social construction, which places responsibility for consumption practices squarely on the shoulders of the buyer. Sourcing the foodstuffs of this piece from German-Austrian discount supermarkets, the artist suggests that such “ethical” consumption is only available to those with financial means. Emblazoned with handprints, the packaging of the off-brand food companies mingle with the indexical mark of the buyer in an exchange that points to the “good” consumer’s implied opposite: the guilty buyer.
plywood, polar fleece, thread, screws, plastic wheels
19.5 x 18 x 16 in
49 x 46 x 40 cm
plywood, polar fleece, thread, screws, plastic wheels
19 x 16 x 12 inches
48 x 40 x 30 cm
plywood, polar fleece, thread, screws, plastic wheels
21 x 24 x 16 inches
53 x 60 x 40 cm
plywood, polar fleece, thread, screws, plastic wheels
26 x 16 x 16 inches
65 x 40 x 40 cm
lambda print mounted on Dibond
24 x 16.5 in
60 x 42 cm
installation view, The Fool at Sea, JTT, New York
iron, tin, lead alloy, plastic
2 x 3 in
5 x 7.5 cm
installation view, The Fool at Sea, JTT, New York
This pair of earrings was produced in the mid-2000s by a fashion accessories factory run by Berger’s family. The company, Berla, was started by Berger’s great-grandparents in a German region which became Czechoslovakia in 1918. After World War II it was moved to Austria, until the expansion of the European Union to the east made it difficult to compete with cheap production in China, and it closed in 2005. Berger grew up with a clear understanding of the production process and how an object goes from concept sketches to distribution. In her practice, Berger often makes use of the Berla company’s surplus goods and documents as readymade art objects. These earrings were one of the company’s last best-sellers, designed by the artist’s mother to align with a robot jewelry trend initiated by Prada. Aside from operating on a personal level for Berger, the objects are evidence of the way in which high fashion makes its way down to mass-produced objects.
steel, iron, and plastic
16 x 16 x 12 inches
40 x 40 x 30 cm
installation view, The Fool at Sea, JTT, New York
One of a pair of sculptures titled left and right, this piece is a recreation of coal boxes similar to those at the Isar River in Munich, designed for the disposal of coal after grilling in a public space. Their implementation in the city followed a recent green space restoration initiative which prompted Berger’s response: “What makes a clean city? A functioning administration or inhabitants that value tidiness? The implementation of the coal boxes springs from a desire to keep a public commons proper. I am interested in care — who can afford such care and what comes with it.” In Berger’s version of these depositories, they are filled with hundreds of plastic eyes for children’s stuffed animals. Chained to architectural structures in the gallery, their installation reflects Berger’s observation of chains in urban environments. Not only do chains allow for something private to be stored in public, they render a modular element temporarily part of permanent architecture.
steel, iron, and plastic
16 x 16 x 12 inches
40 x 40 x 30 cm
installation view, The Fool at Sea, JTT, New York
lambda print
23.5 x 15.5 inches
60 x 40 cm
aluminum ladder, jingle bells, chain, orange
41 x 120 inches
104 x 305 cm
installation view, The Fool At Sea, JTT, New York
aluminum ladder, jingle bells, chain, orange
41 x 120 inches
104 x 305 cm
installation view, The Fool At Sea, JTT, New York
aluminum ladder, jingle bells, chain, orange
41 x 120 inches
104 x 305 cm
installation view, The Fool At Sea, JTT, New York
paper, pencil, wine bottle, olive oil, whiskey, balsamic vinegar, canned beans, apricot jam, marzipan figurine, concrete hand, iron weights, salt
13 x 91 x 47 in
33 x 230 x 120 cm
“Berger has recently employed the figure of the court jester in a number of works… the flimsiness of the figure and its prone position, suggest a body pushed to its limits. In striving to entertain on only basic resources, the jester has exhausted himself ... The jester has a curiously long leash, and certain forms of freedom to perform parrhesia—the rhetorically candid speech that can speak truth to power.
.
However, the jester is never fully out of danger. He can always be killed, he can always push too far. He is a figure that is both precarious and powerful, walking a line as thin as a knife- edge. The jester is a truth teller on a leash, a provocateur in a cage—but what other position is there from which to speak? There’s a kind of recklessness to this figure which is both pathetic and endlessly resourceful—he or she can magically transform nothing into something, but is also caught between opposing forces. As is the artist, much of the time.”
.
— Laura McLean-Ferris,
“A Cage Went in Search of a Bird: On Anna-Sophie Berger,”
Ars Viva 2018 (Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2018), exhibition catalog.
paper, pencil, wine bottle, olive oil, whiskey, balsamic vinegar, canned beans, apricot jam, marzipan figurine, concrete hand, iron weights, salt
13 x 91 x 47 in
33 x 230 x 120 cm
gelb grün, 2014
Pelikan Watercolor, gold coated rhodium pendant, chain
1.5 x 1.5 in + chain
3.5 x 3.5 cm + chain
and
MEDIUMX, 2014
digital print on silk twill, thread
31 x 46.5 in (variable)
79 x 118 cm (variable)
installation view, KE-17 JIGSAW, KE-03 LARGE PINKING, KE-24 SCALLOP, KE-16 POSTAL, JTT, New York
HARDX, 2014
digital print on silk twill, thread
40 x 40 in (variable)
101.5 x 101.5 cm (variable)
and
hard (blue), 2014
digital print on Dibond
40 x 40 inches
101.5 x 101.5 cm
installation view, KE-17 JIGSAW, KE-03 LARGE PINKING, KE-24 SCALLOP, KE-16 POSTAL, JTT, New York
soft (red), 2014
digital print on Dibond
25 x 33 in
63.5 x 84.5 cm
and
SOFTX, 2014
digital print on silk twill, thread
25 x 33 in (variable)
63.5 x 84.5 cm (variable)
installation view, KE-17 JIGSAW, KE-03 LARGE PINKING, KE-24 SCALLOP, KE-16 POSTAL, JTT, New York
ultraflex (yellow), 2014
digital print on Dibond
70 x 26 in
178 x 66 cm
and
ULTRAFLEXX, 2014
digital print on silk twill, thread
70 x 26 in (variable)
178 x 66 cm (variable)
installation view, KE-17 JIGSAW, KE-03 LARGE PINKING, KE-24 SCALLOP, KE-16 POSTAL, JTT, New York
Pelikan Watercolor, gold coated rhodium pendant, chain
1.5 x 1.5 in + chain
3.5 x 3.5 cm + chain
installation view, KE-17 JIGSAW, KE-03 LARGE PINKING, KE-24 SCALLOP, KE-16 POSTAL, JTT, New York