Margret Eicher
Year of birth, place
Role at the ZKM
- Artist of the Collection
Biography
In the works by Berlin-based artist Margret Eicher (born 1955 in Viersen, DE), Baroque pictorial art meets digital collage and material artistry meets the creation of electronic motifs. From 1973 to 1979, the artist studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy under Fritz Schwegler and Rolf Sackenheim with a focus on drawing. After completing her studies, however, she turned away from drawing and became part of the Copy Art movement as she developed the technique of CopyCollage, duplicating motifs that are in the public domain by means of ordinary laser copies. Since the early 2000s, the artist has become known for her Medientapisserien® (media tapestries): digital montages of image motifs connected with the information society of the 21st century, which she has produced as woven tapestries. Inside the ornamental borders that frame Margret Eicher’s wall hangings and collages, space and time intertwine: the works move between mystical narratives and complex media worlds in a hybrid manner, skillfully defamiliarizing imagery that the artist appropriates from art history and popular culture, such as film, advertising, and video games. Margret Eicher’s works are thus iconological interpretations of our visual culture, which confirm social theorist Niklas Luhmann’s proposition that “Whatever we know about our society, or indeed about the world in which we live, we know through the mass media.”
Education
1973-79 Studies at the Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf art academy under Prof. Fritz Schwegler and Prof. Rolf Sackenheim
Awards/Scholarships (selection)
| 1989 | Work scholarship, State of Rhineland-Palatinate |
| 1993 | Prize of the Rhineland-Palatinate Lotto-Toto Company |
| 1994 | Scholarship, Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg |
| 1995 | Scholarship, Kunstfonds Bonn e.V. |
| 1996 | 2nd Prize Copy Art Competition of the International Graphic Triennial, Grenchen, CH |
Exhibitions (Selection):
| 1982 | Städtische Galerie, Viersen |
| 1983 | Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt |
| 1986 | Honigzeiten, Scharpf-Galerie des Wilhelm-Hack-Museums, Ludwigshafen |
| 1988 | Hirschmann und Vogelfrau, Pfalzgalerie, Kaiserslautern and Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe |
| 1989 | Normale Dunkelheit am späten Vormittag, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen |
| 1990 | Fußball in der Kunst, Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern Fußball in der Kunst, Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren Förderpreis Junge Künstler der Saar Ferngas AG, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen |
| 1992 | Musee Trouvee, Kunstverein und Landesmuseum für Technik und Arbeit, Mannheim |
| 1993 | CopyCollage, Fotogalerie Wien, Vienna, AT (Solo) |
| 1994 | Über den Gebrauch der Muster, Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg (Solo) Über den Gebrauch der Muster, Städtische Kunsthalle, Mannheim (Solo) CopyCollagen, Kunstverein Oldenburg, Oldenburg (Solo) |
| 1995 | LOBLOB, Kunstraum Wuppertal, Wuppertal (Solo) Belle Etage, Forum Fotografie im Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg (with Jörg Czeschla) |
| 1996 | Stipendiatenausstellung, Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart (with Isabel Kerkermeier) Herrschende Muster, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden (Solo) Herrschende Muster, Kunstverein Dortmund, Dortmund (Solo) Konkretum-Abstraktum, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Bochum (with Madeleine Dietz |
| 1997 | Versus III, Fondatione Velan, Turin, IT |
| 1998 | Ruhe bitte!, Palais Podewil, Berlin (Solo) |
| 1999 | Boygroup, Museum der Stadt Waiblingen, Waiblingen (Solo) System:Code, Verein für Originalgrafik, Munich (Solo) |
| 2001 | Tussirecherche, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen (Solo): Boygroup, Fotogalerie Wien, Wien, AT (Solo) Sehen Sie! Sehen Sie?, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart (with Simone Demandt) Viral Rooms, Bureau TM, Davos, CH (with Simone Demandt) |
| 2002 | Society Dream, Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt (Solo) Genius Loci, Kunstprojekt Lahr, Lahr (with Simone Demandt) |
| 2003 | Freche Kopie!, Büro für Kunst, Dresden (Solo) |
| 2004 | Daydream & Nightmare, Forum Ludwig für Internationale Kunst, Aachen (Solo) |
| 2005 | R:E:M: Rapid Eye Movement, Forum Kunst, Rottweil (Solo) R:E:M: Rapid Eye Movement, Kunstverein Wolfenbüttel, Wolfenbüttel (Solo) Körper, Fotoforum Braunau, Braunau, AT |
| 2006 | Nothing is Real, DAM, Berlin (Solo) Nothing is Real, Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, Saarbrücken (Solo) Faszination Fußball, Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern Außerordendlich und obszön – Pop Kultur, Rhenania Kunsthaus and Pop Archiv, Cologne |
| 2007 | Radically Constructive, Kunstverein Mannheim (Solo) Radically Constructive, Museum Liner, Appenzell, CH (Solo) Fish ‘n‘ Chips – Das maritime Motiv in der zeitgenössischen Kunst, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Hamburg |
| 2008 | She, DAM, Berlin (Solo) Posing!, Kunsthalle Darmstadt, Darmstadt |
| 2010 | Falsche Fährte, Schloss Agathenburg, Stade (with Sabine Dehnel, Christian Hagemann) Terror ist Glamour, Merkel Collection, Mannheim (with Ruth Hutter) peripher photographisch, Fotoforum West, Innsbruck, AT |
| 2011 | Schau_Lust, Kunstverein Altes Dampfbad, Baden Baden (Solo) Aufstand der Zeichen, Goethe-Institut, Nancy, FR (Solo) Raumintervention im Lichthof des Senders, ZKM as a guest on ARTE, Strasbourg, FR (Solo) Dubble Vision, Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art, St. Petersburg, RU (Solo) Wahlverwandtschaften, Stadtgalerie S4, Mannheim Continere, Musee des Beaux-Arts de Tournai, Tournai, BE Ornamental Structures, Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, Saarbrücken |
| 2012 | Sex & Crime, Kunstmuseum Heidenheim, Heidenheim (Solo) Work Work Work, Museum Liner, Appenzell, CH Sport in Art, MOCAK, Krakow, PL Artists for Tichy, Tichy Foundation, Prague, CZ Ornamental Structures, Kunstverein im Reuchlinhaus, Pforzheim |
| 2013 | Once Upon a Time in Mass Media, Schloss Neuenbürg and Museum am Markt/Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe (Solo) Medientapisserien, Schloss Charlottenburg, Orangerie, Berlin (Solo) Kunstmuseum Ahlen, Ahlen |
| 2014 | COMBINATIONS: REFLECTING ON SILENCE, CACTicino, Bellinzona, CH (Solo) Political Pattern, Kunstmuseum Ahlen, Ahlen (Solo) Ornamental Patterns, Angermuseum, Erfurt (Solo) Lob der Malkunst, Museum Kurhaus Kleve, Kleve |
| 2015 | Regime of Images, YAY Gallery, Baku, AZ (Solo) Let me be Your Supervisor, Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz, Berlin (with Simone Demandt) Il Pello Neell’ Uovo, Lo spirito del’Lago, Spazio Luparia, Stresa, IT Fäden der Macht, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, AT Craft Painting, Gallery of Art Critics, Adria Palace, Prague, CZ |
| 2016 | Kalibrierung, Bellevue, Wiesbaden (with Adi Hoesle) Kalibrierung, Kunstverein, Ulm (with Adi Hoesle) Common Cause, Port 25, Mannheim (with Simone Demandt) Pfalzpreis-Ausstellung Neue Medien, Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern |
| 2017 | Kalibrierung, Sprengel Museum, Hannover (with Adi Hoesle) Leipzig Disturbance, Kunsthalle der Sparkasse, Leipzig Open Codes, ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe |
| 2018 | Pirating Presence, Kunstverein im Reuchlinhaus, Pforzheim Aneignung der Aneignung, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin Bildern folgen – Verfolgt von Bildern, Kunstverein Kunsthaus Potsdam, Potsdam |
| 2019 | La Grande Bouffe, Zagreus Projekt, Berlin (Solo) B.A.R.O.C.K., Me Collectors Room, Berlin B.A.R.O.C.K., Schloss Caputh, Potsdam Pirating Presence, Kunstpavillon, Munich Pirating Presence, Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden Writing the History of the Future. The Collection of the ZKM, ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe Begierde und Täuschung, Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin |
| 2020 | Lob der Malkunst, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich (Solo) Disturbance: Witch, Zentrum für Aktuelle Kunst in der Zitadelle Spandau, Berlin |
| 2021 | Lob der Malkunst, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin (Solo) Artist’s Conqest, Schloss Pillnitz, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden |
| 2022 | BATTLE:RELOADED, Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle (Saale) (Solo) Hacking Identity – Dancing Diversity, The ZKM as a guest at Esch2022 – Europäische Kulturhauptstadt, Esch on the Alzette, LU Portrait of a Lady, Villa Empain, Boghossian Foundation, Brussels, BE Nur Festsache, Schau Fenster, Raum für Kunst, Berlin |
| 2023 | Symptom:Barock, Schlossmuseum, Eutin
Bodies, Grids and Ecstasy, Arthena Foundation, Düsseldorf |
| 2024 | Digital Worlds, ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe (Solo) DEEP FAKE!, Sächsische Schlösser und Gärten, Albrechtsburg Meissen (Solo) ARTAPESTRY, Deutsches Textilmuseum, Krefeld Les Liaisons Désireuses, Kasteel d‘Ursel, Hingene, BE Nibelungen: Imageworlds– damals, später, heute, Merano Arte, Meran, IT |
Museums/Collections
Landesmuseum Mainz; Städtische Sammlung in the Prinz Max Palais, Karlsruhe; Städtische Sammlung Mainz; Städtische Kunsthalle, Mannheim; Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen; Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern; ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe; Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt; Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle (Saale)
[2024]