Valeska Gert

I came across Berlin-born artist Valeska Gert (1892–1978) only very recently and was surprised I'd never heard of her before (not because I'm usually so knowledgeable but because she's really amazing and perhaps deserves to be better known!).


She currently has an exhibition at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, which is how I discovered her. The show is titled Pause. Valeska Gert: Moving Fragments and runs until 6 February 2011.

The gallery says that her work is about 'perception' - whether she is working in dance, theatre, art, music or film - and the exhibition explores this idea via Gert's work and that of others who 'also tackle the phenomenon of perception', like Marcel Duchamp, Valie Export and Jenny Holzer (below).


For my part, I just found Gert's way of speaking, dealing with an interview/talking about her work, as well as the images she created to be incredibly intriguing and powerful. I can't even remember exactly what she was saying or doing but it was good! And I guess that's exactly how 'the structures and effects of perception' work - moving away from 'understanding' and towards purely perceiving. Valeska Gert is wild!


[For those who understand German, this video might be interesting!]