pedestals, but also resemble the innards of bombed-out buildings, or the bones of future skyscrapers. They draw attention to negative space, a theme common in Genzken’s work. They suggest that, while both architecture and sculpture are generally intended to be indelible, they are by nature transitory: funneling the movement of bodies, memories, and histories, while succumbing to their own mortality through decay and destruction. In her book, Isa Genzken: Sculpture as World Receiver (The University of Chicago Press, 2017), scholar Lisa Lee discusses Genzken’s propensity for using sculpture as a subjective narrator, stating, “Her artworks are receivers, yes, but they are also transmitters of a distinct perspective that is always personal, always incisive. Genzken’s mode of receptivity detects currents, works through them, and, finally, translates her critical position on these currents into the stuff of sculpture.” In the early 1990s, Genzken pushed this aspect of her practice to the forefront. She had always worked in other mediums and had a longstanding fascination with modernity, having been one of the first artists to utilize computerized technologies and readily incorporating advertisements and functional design into her work. At this time, she also made radical shifts in her personal life, divorcing Richter after 11 years of marriage, moving from Cologne to Berlin (where she frequented techno-infused dance clubs), and cultivating relationships with a younger generation of artists and gallerists. All of these elements coalesced in her movement toward
Above: Isa Genzken, Weltempfänger, 1988-1989, concrete and steel, 84.65 x 62.99 x 15.75 in.; right: Isa Genzken, Schauspieler II, 8, 2014, black child mannequin on glass stand, life-jacket, silver mirror foil, passport, woolen jumper, American football helmet, spray paint, 60.63 x 17.72 x 15.75 in.
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