From the late 1960s onward, Anna Oppermann (1940-1993) occupied an important and unique position within the German art scene owing to her conceptual works. She went on to gain international renown after participating in documenta 6 and 8 in Kassel, Germany.

At the time of her early death at the age of just 53, Oppermann bequeathed an extensive body of work that can now be rediscovered in a large-scale retrospective at the Bundeskunsthalle. The exhibition displays diverse pieces ranging from her early drawings to one of her last major works. A distinguishing feature of Oppermann’s oeuvre – frequently composed of expansive arrangements of notes, drawings, photographs, and objects – is her deliberate disclosure of the artistic process. These installations, which the artist herself refers to as “ensembles”, reveal not only the findings of her artistic research, but also the processes and methods that led to their creation.

Oppermann’s three-dimensional collages illustrate her radical concept of the artwork as an open dialogue; the process is an integral part of the final product. Exuberant, complex, and also smaller assemblages allow us to immerse ourselves in the artist’s search for and exposure of traces. With her works, Oppermann alternates between everyday life and the art scene, between mass media and various scientific disciplines, in order to trace the interrelations between the private and the public world, between simplicity and complexity. The works express the artist’s process of self-examination and invite the viewer to discuss fundamental social and general human topics.