Bruce Nauman
Year of birth, place
1941
Role at the ZKM
- Artist of the Collection
Biography
Bruce Nauman was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1941. From 1960 to 1964 he studied Mathematics, then Art, at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, then moving to the University of California at Davis, where he completed an MA in 1966. In 1990 he won the 'Max-Beckmann-Preis' awarded byt he city of Frankfurt am Main. Nauman lives in Galisteo, New Mexico.
Although Nauman started out as a painter, he already given up painting during his studies at the University of California. His work since then has always been characterized by the range of media and forms it has embraced - sculpture, film, video, photography, installation, neon and performance art. The dominant themes of Nauman's work are a concentration on the human body, the body's relationship to space, and spoken language. After Nauman's first experiments with video in the late 1960s, he produced the »tunnel« works of the 1970s. Here, he explored the potential variety in the experiences of hiding and being enclosed. The works in neon, made in the 1980s, are intended as a satirical commentary on the relation between sex and power. Nauman's video tapes record particular sequences of movement, mimicry and gestures. These, combined with linguistic, acoustic and sculptural elements in installations, are used to explore aspects of the human body. In an installation made in 1987 Nauman for the first time combined videotape playing on monitor screens with the much larger images produced by video footage projected directly on to the wall.
Individual exhibitions (selection)
1968 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
1972 »Bruce Nauman: Works from 1965-1972«, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, subsequently at Kunsthalle, Berne; Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf; Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, and at venues in Milan, Houston and San Francisco
1981 »Bruce Nauman 1972-81«, Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo, subsequently at Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden
1985 Donald Young Gallery, Chicago
1986 »Bruce Nauman: Drawings 1965-86«, öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basle, subsequently at Kunsthalle Tübingen, Städtisches Kunstmuseum Bonn, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Rotterdam, and at venues in Munich, Karlsruhe, Hamburg, New York, Houston, Texas, Los Angeles and Berkeley
1990 »Bruce Nauman, Sculpture and Installation (Human Nature/Animal Nature)«, Öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basle, subsequently at
Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt/M
1992 Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg
1993 »Bruce Nauman: Light Works«, Steinberg Hall, Washington University Gallery of Art, St. Louis
1994 Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, subsequently at Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution Washington, D.C., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and a venue in Zürich
1996 »Bruce Nauman: Rotating Glass Walls«, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
1997 »Bruce Nauman, Image/Text 1966-1996«, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, subsequently at Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Hayward Gallery, London; Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
Group exhibitions (selection)
1968 documenta IV, Kassel
1969 »When Attitudes Become Form«, Kunsthalle, Berne, subsequently at Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
1972 documenta V, Kassel
1977 documenta VI, Kassel; »Skulptur. Ausstellung in Münster 1977«, Münster
1978 Biennale di Venezia, Venice
1980 Biennale di Venezia, Venice
1982 documenta VII, Kassel
1986 Chambre d'amis, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Ghent
1987 »Skulptur. Projekte in Münster 1987«, Münster
1989 »Bilderstreit«, Museum Ludwig, Rheinhallen, Cologne; »Video-Skulptur retrospektiv und aktuell 1963-89«, Kunstverein, Cologne, subsequently at Kongresshalle Berlin; Kunsthaus, Zürich
1990 »The New Sculpture 1965-75: Between Geometry and Gesture«, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1991 »Metropolis«, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin
1992 »Moving Image - Electronic Art«, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona; documenta IX, Kassel
1993 »Amerikanische Kunst im 20. Jahrhundert«, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, subsequently at Royal Academy of Arts, London
1995 Biennale di Venezia, Venice; »fémininmasculin: Le sexe de l'art«, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
1996 »Mediascape«, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum SoHo, New York; »fremdKörper - corps étranger - Foreign Body«, öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basle
1997 »Views from Abroad: European Perspectives on American Art«, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt/M; »Die Epoche der Moderne«, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin
[David Richardt, 1997]
Although Nauman started out as a painter, he already given up painting during his studies at the University of California. His work since then has always been characterized by the range of media and forms it has embraced - sculpture, film, video, photography, installation, neon and performance art. The dominant themes of Nauman's work are a concentration on the human body, the body's relationship to space, and spoken language. After Nauman's first experiments with video in the late 1960s, he produced the »tunnel« works of the 1970s. Here, he explored the potential variety in the experiences of hiding and being enclosed. The works in neon, made in the 1980s, are intended as a satirical commentary on the relation between sex and power. Nauman's video tapes record particular sequences of movement, mimicry and gestures. These, combined with linguistic, acoustic and sculptural elements in installations, are used to explore aspects of the human body. In an installation made in 1987 Nauman for the first time combined videotape playing on monitor screens with the much larger images produced by video footage projected directly on to the wall.
Individual exhibitions (selection)
1968 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
1972 »Bruce Nauman: Works from 1965-1972«, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, subsequently at Kunsthalle, Berne; Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf; Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, and at venues in Milan, Houston and San Francisco
1981 »Bruce Nauman 1972-81«, Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo, subsequently at Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden
1985 Donald Young Gallery, Chicago
1986 »Bruce Nauman: Drawings 1965-86«, öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basle, subsequently at Kunsthalle Tübingen, Städtisches Kunstmuseum Bonn, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Rotterdam, and at venues in Munich, Karlsruhe, Hamburg, New York, Houston, Texas, Los Angeles and Berkeley
1990 »Bruce Nauman, Sculpture and Installation (Human Nature/Animal Nature)«, Öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basle, subsequently at
Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt/M
1992 Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg
1993 »Bruce Nauman: Light Works«, Steinberg Hall, Washington University Gallery of Art, St. Louis
1994 Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, subsequently at Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution Washington, D.C., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and a venue in Zürich
1996 »Bruce Nauman: Rotating Glass Walls«, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
1997 »Bruce Nauman, Image/Text 1966-1996«, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, subsequently at Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Hayward Gallery, London; Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
Group exhibitions (selection)
1968 documenta IV, Kassel
1969 »When Attitudes Become Form«, Kunsthalle, Berne, subsequently at Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
1972 documenta V, Kassel
1977 documenta VI, Kassel; »Skulptur. Ausstellung in Münster 1977«, Münster
1978 Biennale di Venezia, Venice
1980 Biennale di Venezia, Venice
1982 documenta VII, Kassel
1986 Chambre d'amis, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Ghent
1987 »Skulptur. Projekte in Münster 1987«, Münster
1989 »Bilderstreit«, Museum Ludwig, Rheinhallen, Cologne; »Video-Skulptur retrospektiv und aktuell 1963-89«, Kunstverein, Cologne, subsequently at Kongresshalle Berlin; Kunsthaus, Zürich
1990 »The New Sculpture 1965-75: Between Geometry and Gesture«, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1991 »Metropolis«, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin
1992 »Moving Image - Electronic Art«, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona; documenta IX, Kassel
1993 »Amerikanische Kunst im 20. Jahrhundert«, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, subsequently at Royal Academy of Arts, London
1995 Biennale di Venezia, Venice; »fémininmasculin: Le sexe de l'art«, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
1996 »Mediascape«, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum SoHo, New York; »fremdKörper - corps étranger - Foreign Body«, öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basle
1997 »Views from Abroad: European Perspectives on American Art«, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt/M; »Die Epoche der Moderne«, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin
[David Richardt, 1997]