Hanne Darboven. Photo: Angelika Platen | bpk 

 

Hanne Darboven (1941–2009) is considered one of the most important and enigmatic figures in postwar German art. Though based in Hamburg, it was during a two-year stay in New York in the late 1960s that the conceptual artist discovered what would become her life-long project: the spatializing and visualization of time in its various forms—as lifetime, time working and writing, and historical time. Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers have the exclusive privilege of working with the Hanne Darboven Foundation, the foundation entrusted with the artist’s estate.

 

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Darboven’s interest in representing the mechanisms of time emerged early in her career, manifesting in the form of diagram compositions, columns of numbers and constructivist drawings. Her time in New York exposed her to the work of artists including Sol LeWitt, Lawrence Weiner and Carl Andre. Darboven thus became part of the scene that laid the theoretical and aesthetic groundwork for conceptual and minimal art—eschewing notions of artistic subjectivity, advancing the principle of serialism, and insisting on the viewer’s perception as a substantial, participatory force in the creation of the artwork itself.

Darboven embodied LeWitt’s idea of the artist operating “merely as a clerk cataloging the results of the premise” more consistently than any other conceptual artist of the day. She developed a handwritten notation system that recalled digital datasets, evoking the aesthetics of the early computer age. Within that notation system Darboven explored the reality of the calendar as a supposedly objective instrument for measuring time. She came up with a specific way of doing cross-sum calculations that she used to convert the numbers of a given calendar date into individual digits. Afterwards, she converted those digits into increasingly elaborate visual form of writing that employed vectors, boxes or wavy lines. It was through this act of writing that she chronicled her own lifetime, which she devoted almost entirely to her work. This time-writing resulted in works such as Weltansichten 00–99 (1975–80), which consist of hundreds, sometimes thousands of identically framed compositions on paper, hanging in enormous grids that blanket the walls of entire exhibition venues.

Darboven’s later, even more monumental works including Kulturgeschichte 1880–1983 (1980–83) shifted focus to the temporal present as a phenomenon that always already contains both the past and future. She devoted weeks to producing handwritten copies of texts such as Homer’s Odyssey and Sartre’s The Words, and invented an elaborate system to convert many of her date drawings into scores for hypnotic pieces of music. Expansive installations feature a combination of calendar works, photos, postcards, school materials, musical instruments, store mannequins, and other found objects or images. Darboven was convinced of the principles of classical Enlightenment and gestured to ideas of a universal education. She offered connections between historical events, epistemological detritus, and private moments, often distinguishing herself as a keen observer of contemporary politics.

In attempting to decipher Hanne Darboven’s works, viewers become cognizant of more than just the limited nature of their own lifetimes. They also become conscious of the fact that there is no such thing as “objective time” and that time, in human perception, can only ever be an amalgamation of feelings, memories and thoughts. For Darboven it is no linear process, but an impenetrable, highly subjective plexus of parallel phenomena.

 

Hanne Darboven
Sechs Bücher über 1968 / Six Books on 1968, 1969
6 16-mm films transferred to digital video, b/w, silent, approx. 15 min each (excerpt)
© Hanne Darboven Foundation, Hamburg
VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2020

 

Works
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III / Geography I, II, III, 1986

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III (Geography I, II, III), 1986
723 sheets of Collage (photo copy, photograph), felt pen, pencil on paper;
10 classroom maps with tripods
723 panels, each 70 x 50 cm / 27 5/8 × 19 3/4 inches;
10 classroom maps with tripods

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Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven
Kulturgeschichte 1880–1983, 1980–83

Hanne Darboven
Kulturgeschichte 1880–1983, 1980–83
1590 sheets; 19 objects of different sizes
52.7 × 73 × 2.2 cm (framed)
20 3/4 × 28 3/4 × 7/8 inches (framed)

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Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven
Quartett >88<, 1988

Hanne Darboven
Quartett >88<
Antique wax store-window mannequin made, clothed and without arms, ink, photographs, and offset lithographs on paper
745 sheets
Blätter: je 42 × 29.7 cm
Schaufensterpuppe: 177.8 × 48.2 × 25.4 cm
sheets: 16 1/2 × 11 3/4 inches each
mannequin: 70 × 19 × 10 inches

More views
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven
Europa 97 / Europe 97, 1998

Hanne Darboven
Europa 97 / Europe 97
Pancolor felt tip pen and collaged color photographs on tracing paper
384 sheets, 29.7 × 21.5 cm each
384 sheets, 11 3/4 × 8 1/2 inches each
384 sheets, 31.1 × 22.4 × 0.8 cm each (framed)
384 sheets, 12 1/4 × 8 7/8 × 1/4 inches each (framed)

More views
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde und (Süd-) Koreanischer Kalender
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Berlin, September 12, 2019–February 26, 2020

Hanne Darboven
(Süd-) Koreanischer Kalender / (South) Korean Calendar, 1991
Collage: felt pen, offset print on paper (Tear-Off Calendar)
366 sheets
50 × 70 cm each
19 3/4 × 27 5/8 inches each

More views
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven
Dostojewski, Monat Januar / Dostojewski, month of January, 1990

Hanne Darboven
Dostojewski, Monat Januar, 1990
Ink and gelatin silver print collage on paper, in 16 parts
each 22.5 × 29.5 cm
overall 90 × 118 cm (framed)
each 8 7/8 × 11 5/8 inches
overall 35 3/8 × 46 1/2 inches (framed)

Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven
Konstruktion/Perforation New York (Construction/Perforation New York), 1966/67

Hanne Darboven
Konstruktion / Perforation New York (Construction / Perforation New York)
Pencil and ballpoint pen on graph paper, perforated
66.7 × 61 cm
26 1/4 × 24 inches
75 × 68.7 × 3.2 cm (framed)
29 1/2 × 27 × 1 1/4 inches (framed)

More views
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven
Kalenderbuch 92 / Calendar book 92, 1992

Hanne Darboven
Kalenderbuch 92 / Calendar book 92
101 panels; color photographs, red felt tip pen on cardboard
70 × 50 cm (each panel)
27 5/8 × 19 3/4 inches (each panel)
72.3 × 52.4 × 2.5 cm
355 × 1055 cm (overall) (framed)
28 1/2 × 20 5/8 × 1 inches
139 3/4 × 415 3/8 inches (overall) (framed)

More views
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven
Ohne Titel/Untitled, Monate mit Postkarten (Januar)/Months with postcards (January), 1990

Hanne Darboven
Ohne Titel
Monate mit Postkarten (Januar 1990)
, 1990

Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven
Konstruktion New York/Construction New York, 1966

Hanne Darboven
Konstruktionen New York / Constructions New York
Pencil on paper, 4 framed sheets
41 × 41 cm each
16 1/8 × 16 1/8 inches each

Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven
Leben, leben (Life, living), 1998

Hanne Darboven
Leben, leben (Life, living), 1998
2782 sheets: typewriter, ball pen, felt pen on paper; photography; 32 photographs; 2 doll's houses
2781 sheets: dimensions variable
32 photographs, 30 × 20 cm / 11 7/8 × 7 7/8 inches each
2 doll's houses

More views
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven
Bismarckzeit, 1978

Hanne Darboven
Bismarckzeit, 1978
Ink on transparent paper, offset print, bronze sculpture
917 sheets
each 42 × 29.7 cm
each 16 1/2 × 11 3/4 inches

Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven
Untitled, 1971

Hanne Darboven
Untitled
Ink and feltpen on graph paper
61 sheets, 29.7 × 21 cm each
61 sheets, 11 3/4 × 8 1/4 inches each
61 sheets, 31.3 × 22.7 × 2.5 cm each (framed)
61 sheets,12 1/4 × 9 × 1 inches each (framed)

More views
Details
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III (Geography I, II, III), 1986
723 sheets of Collage (photo copy, photograph), felt pen, pencil on paper;
10 classroom maps with tripods
723 panels, each 70 x 50 cm / 27 5/8 × 19 3/4 inches;
10 classroom maps with tripods

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III / Geography I, II, III, 1986
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III (Geography I, II, III), 1986

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III / Geography I, II, III, 1986
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III (Geography I, II, III), 1986

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III / Geography I, II, III, 1986
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III (Geography I, II, III), 1986

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III / Geography I, II, III, 1986
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III (Geography I, II, III), 1986

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III / Geography I, II, III, 1986
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III (Geography I, II, III), 1986

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III / Geography I, II, III, 1986
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III (Geography I, II, III), 1986 (detail)

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III / Geography I, II, III, 1986
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III (Geography I, II, III), 1986 (detail)

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III / Geography I, II, III, 1986
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III (Geography I, II, III), 1986 (detail)

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde I, II, III / Geography I, II, III, 1986
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Kulturgeschichte 1880–1983, 1980–83
1590 sheets; 19 objects of different sizes
52.7 × 73 × 2.2 cm (framed)
20 3/4 × 28 3/4 × 7/8 inches (framed)

Hanne Darboven
Kulturgeschichte 1880–1983, 1980–83
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Kulturgeschichte 1880–1983, 1980–1983 (detail)

Hanne Darboven
Kulturgeschichte 1880-1983, 1980-1983
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Kulturgeschichte 1880–1983, 1980–1983 (detail)

Hanne Darboven
Kulturgeschichte 1880-1983, 2015
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Kulturgeschichte 1880–1983, 1980–1983 (detail)

Hanne Darboven
Kulturgeschichte 1880-1983, 2015
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Kulturgeschichte 1880–1983, 1980–1983 (detail)

Hanne Darboven
Kulturgeschichte 1880-1983, 1980-1983
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Kulturgeschichte 1880–1983, 1980–1983 (detail)

Hanne Darboven
Kulturgeschichte 1880-1983, 1980-1983
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Kulturgeschichte 1880–1983, 1980–1983 (detail)

Hanne Darboven
Kulturgeschichte 1880-1983, 1980-1983
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Kulturgeschichte 1880–1983, 1980–1983 (detail)

Hanne Darboven
Kulturgeschichte 1880-1983, 1980-1983
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Quartett >88<
Antique wax store-window mannequin made, clothed and without arms, ink, photographs, and offset lithographs on paper
745 sheets
Blätter: je 42 × 29.7 cm
Schaufensterpuppe: 177.8 × 48.2 × 25.4 cm
sheets: 16 1/2 × 11 3/4 inches each
mannequin: 70 × 19 × 10 inches

Hanne Darboven
Quartett >88<, 1988
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Quartett >88< (detail)

Hanne Darboven
Quartett >88<, 1988
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Quartett >88< (detail)

Hanne Darboven
Quartett >88<, 1988
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Europa 97 / Europe 97
Pancolor felt tip pen and collaged color photographs on tracing paper
384 sheets, 29.7 × 21.5 cm each
384 sheets, 11 3/4 × 8 1/2 inches each
384 sheets, 31.1 × 22.4 × 0.8 cm each (framed)
384 sheets, 12 1/4 × 8 7/8 × 1/4 inches each (framed)

Hanne Darboven
Europa 97 / Europe 97, 1998
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Europa 97 / Europe 97

Hanne Darboven
Europa 97 / Europe 97, 1998
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
(Süd-) Koreanischer Kalender / (South) Korean Calendar, 1991
Collage: felt pen, offset print on paper (Tear-Off Calendar)
366 sheets
50 × 70 cm each
19 3/4 × 27 5/8 inches each

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde und (Süd-) Koreanischer Kalender
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Berlin, September 12, 2019–February 26, 2020
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
(Süd-) Koreanischer Kalender / (South) Korean Calendar, 1991

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde und (Süd-) Koreanischer Kalender
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Berlin, September 12, 2019–February 26, 2020
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
(Süd-) Koreanischer Kalender / (South) Korean Calendar, 1991

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde und (Süd-) Koreanischer Kalender
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Berlin, September 12, 2019–February 26, 2020
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
(Süd-) Koreanischer Kalender / (South) Korean Calendar, 1991

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde und (Süd-) Koreanischer Kalender
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Berlin, September 12, 2019–February 26, 2020
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
(Süd-) Koreanischer Kalender / (South) Korean Calendar, 1991

Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde und (Süd-) Koreanischer Kalender
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Berlin, September 12, 2019–February 26, 2020
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Dostojewski, Monat Januar, 1990
Ink and gelatin silver print collage on paper, in 16 parts
each 22.5 × 29.5 cm
overall 90 × 118 cm (framed)
each 8 7/8 × 11 5/8 inches
overall 35 3/8 × 46 1/2 inches (framed)

Hanne Darboven
Dostojewski, Monat Januar / Dostojewski, month of January, 1990
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Konstruktion / Perforation New York (Construction / Perforation New York)
Pencil and ballpoint pen on graph paper, perforated
66.7 × 61 cm
26 1/4 × 24 inches
75 × 68.7 × 3.2 cm (framed)
29 1/2 × 27 × 1 1/4 inches (framed)

Hanne Darboven
Konstruktion/Perforation New York (Construction/Perforation New York), 1966/67
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Konstruktion / Perforation New York

Hanne Darboven
Konstruktion / Perforation New York, 1966/67
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Konstruktion / Perforation New York

Hanne Darboven
Konstruktion / Perforation New York, 1966/67
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Konstruktion / Perforation New York

Hanne Darboven
Konstruktion / Perforation New York, 1966/67
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Konstruktion / Perforation New York

Hanne Darboven
Konstruktion / Perforation New York, 1966/67
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Kalenderbuch 92 / Calendar book 92
101 panels; color photographs, red felt tip pen on cardboard
70 × 50 cm (each panel)
27 5/8 × 19 3/4 inches (each panel)
72.3 × 52.4 × 2.5 cm
355 × 1055 cm (overall) (framed)
28 1/2 × 20 5/8 × 1 inches
139 3/4 × 415 3/8 inches (overall) (framed)

Hanne Darboven
Kalenderbuch 92 / Calendar book 92, 1992
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Kalenderbuch 92 / Calendar book 92 (installation view)

Hanne Darboven
Kalenderbuch 92 / Calendar book 92, 1992
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Ohne Titel
Monate mit Postkarten (Januar 1990)
, 1990

Hanne Darboven
Ohne Titel/Untitled, Monate mit Postkarten (Januar)/Months with postcards (January), 1990
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Konstruktionen New York / Constructions New York
Pencil on paper, 4 framed sheets
41 × 41 cm each
16 1/8 × 16 1/8 inches each

Hanne Darboven
Konstruktion New York/Construction New York, 1966
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Leben, leben (Life, living), 1998
2782 sheets: typewriter, ball pen, felt pen on paper; photography; 32 photographs; 2 doll's houses
2781 sheets: dimensions variable
32 photographs, 30 × 20 cm / 11 7/8 × 7 7/8 inches each
2 doll's houses

Hanne Darboven
Leben, leben (Life, living), 1998
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles, September 9–October 29, 2016
Photo: Joshua White

Hanne Darboven
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles, September 9–October 29, 2016
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles, September 9–October 29, 2016
Photo: Joshua White

Hanne Darboven
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles, September 9–October 29, 2016
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles, September 9–October 29, 2016
Photo: Joshua White

Hanne Darboven
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles, September 9–October 29, 2016
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles, September 9–October 29, 2016
Photo: Joshua White

Hanne Darboven
Installation view, Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles, September 9–October 29, 2016
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Leben, leben (Life, living), 1998

Hanne Darboven
Leben, leben (Life, living), 1998
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Leben, leben (Life, living), 1998

Hanne Darboven
Leben, leben (Life, living), 1998
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Leben, leben (Life, living), 1998 (detail)

Hanne Darboven
Leben, leben (Life, living), 1998
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Bismarckzeit, 1978
Ink on transparent paper, offset print, bronze sculpture
917 sheets
each 42 × 29.7 cm
each 16 1/2 × 11 3/4 inches

Hanne Darboven
Bismarckzeit, 1978
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Untitled
Ink and feltpen on graph paper
61 sheets, 29.7 × 21 cm each
61 sheets, 11 3/4 × 8 1/4 inches each
61 sheets, 31.3 × 22.7 × 2.5 cm each (framed)
61 sheets,12 1/4 × 9 × 1 inches each (framed)

Hanne Darboven
Untitled, 1971
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Untitled (detail)

Hanne Darboven
Untitled, 1971
Details
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Current and Upcoming
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Exhibition view of Hanne Darboven – Welttheater at Herbert Foundation – Loods. Image: K. Daem

Hanne Darboven
Hanne Darboven – Welttheater
Herbert Foundation – Loods, Ghent
Through July 28, 2024

The oeuvre of Hanne Darboven (1941 – 2009) includes numerous series of framed paper sheets which she inscribed with numbers, signs, and words. By devising her own system to calculate dates and calendars, Darboven researches the many facets of the concept of ‘time’. Although her work looks abstract, it operates on both a personal and a worldly scale. Hanne Darboven’s visual language, which develops from the act of calculating and writing, contains references to historical events and events in her own life, and reveals her literary and social interests. The works take on different forms: they are brought together on the wall or translated into editions and publications. The exhibition Hanne Darboven – Welttheater presents a series of key works, including Querschnitt – 74 – 365 à 42 (1974), Welttheater (1979) and Hommage an meinen Vater (1988).

Link

20/20 Vision – The Collection Remixed
Collection Presentation
Kunsthalle Bremen, Der Kunstverein in Bremen

With the title “20/20 Vision: The Collection Remixed", the Kunsthalle Bremen presents a radical new look at its collection for the first time in nearly ten years. Using bold colors on the walls, an elaborate staging and an entirely new arrangement of the works on display, the exhibition allows surprising new aesthetic experiences. Descriptions of all works on display provide in-depth information, some of which are findings from the very latest research. Several works have not been seen in public in decades. The installation will also present for the first time a number of recent acquisitions, donations, and permanent loans. Works of art created after 1945 will also be given a greater presence.

Link
Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven, Urzeit / Uhrzeit, 1987, Installation view, Kunsthalle Bremen
Exhibitions at Sprüth Magers
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
Six Books on 1968
March 19–July 16, 2022
Los Angeles

Hanne Darboven’s first film work, Six Books on 1968, was presented for the first time in 1969 on the occasion of her solo exhibition at the Städtisches Museum, Mönchengladbach, Germany. The work comprises six 16mm films based on the six books in which Darboven recorded her date calculations of the year 1968 for her major work Six Books on 1968. Sprüth Magers is pleased to show the original version of this iconic piece at the Los Angeles gallery with a room-sized installation of six 16mm projectors, creating a cinematic and time-based orchestration of the year 1968.

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Nancy Holt / Hanne Darboven
Time goes on and remains
March 24–May 5, 2021
Online

Sprüth Magers is pleased to announce the representation of Nancy Holt, in cooperation with Holt/Smithson Foundation. Celebrating this collaboration, the gallery presents an online exhibition between Nancy Holt and Hanne Darboven. A previously unseen work with a heartfelt inscription—sent to Holt from Darboven in 1973—links the two groundbreaking artists together and lays the foundation of this focused presentation, spanning large-scale installations, photographic series and works on paper. The works demonstrate Holt and Darboven’s shared interest in revealing the particular qualities of time experienced, time measured and time passing.

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Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven, Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt
Zeichen der Zeit / Zeit der Zeichen
Sign of the Times / Times of the Sign

July 9–September 19, 2020
London

While Hanne Darboven and Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt lived on different sides of the wall in a divided Germany and were quite unaware of the other’s practice, their juxtaposition in this show makes for a surprising dialogue – not only within their respective works, but also in their exchanges within an international network of artists. The exhibition brings together works and material from the 1970’s and early 80’s.

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Hanne Darboven
Erdkunde und (Süd-) Koreanischer Kalender / Geography and (South) Korean Calendar
September 12, 2019–February 26, 2020
Berlin

The exhibition Erdkunde I, II, III / Geography I, II, III (1986) and (Süd-) Koreanischer Kalender / (South) Korean Calendar (1991) marks the beginning of the gallery’s worldwide exclusive representation of the Darboven Estate. The Hamburg-born Conceptual artist is known for her serial writing pieces and date-based cross sum calculations hung as wall-spanning blocks of identically framed paper works.

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Hanne Darboven Foundation
Hanne Darboven Foundation

Hanne Darboven
September 9–October 29, 2016
Los Angeles

Hanne Darboven is recognised for her ambitious and idiosyncratic body of work that operates at the limits of representation. Sprüth Magers presents the first solo show of her work on the West Coast since 2010 – exhibiting three of her monumental installations that knit together mathematical procedure, historical and cultural artefact, and autobiographical documentation in an attempt to record subjective and objective perceptions of time via a conceptually coherent visual system.

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Press

Local Histories
Kunstforum, review by Roland Berg, April 2019

Hanne Darboven: Is Art at Its Best When You Can’t Take It In?
Artnet news, review by Blake Gopnik, March 2017

On longing: The art of Hanne Darboven
Artforum International, review by Bruce Hainley, February 2017

The Perils of Order, Taken to the Extreme
New York Times, review by Jason Farago, December 8, 2016

Hanne Darboven
Art Agenda, article by Jonathan Griffin, October 21, 2016

Hanne Darboven Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles, USA
Frieze, article by Travis Diehl, October 8, 2016

Critics: Hanne Darboven
Artforum, review by Honora Shea, September 2016

Hanne Darboven
Art in America, article by Karin Bellmann, February 25, 2016

Hanne Darboven
Flash Art, article by Miriam Schoofs, November 14, 2014

My Work Ends in Music: Hanne Darboven’s Notations as Musical Works
Parkett, article by Sibylle Omlin, 2003

Biography

Hanne Darboven (1941–2009). A large survey show of her work is currently on view at the Menil Drawing Institute, Houston. Her 6-channel film Six Books on 1968 was on view at Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles, in 2022. Other solo exhibitions include MKM Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg, Sprüth Magers London (both 2020) and Sprüth Magers Berlin (2019), Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ (2018), Deichtorhallen, Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg and Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin (both 2017), Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn and Haus der Kunst, Munich (both 2015), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (2014), Hamburger Kunsthalle (1999 and 2006), and Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin (2006). Selected group exhibitions include Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (2020), Westbund Art Museum, Shanghai (2019), ICA Miami (2017), Kunstmuseum Basel (2014), Hamburger Kunsthalle (2013, 2016), Centre Pompidou, Paris (2002), Museum für Moderne Kunst MMK, Frankfurt (2000, 2010), and Haus der Kunst, Munich (1997, 2003, 2008). She represented the Federal Republic of Germany at the 1982 Venice Biennale (along with Gotthard Graubner and Wolfgang Laib), and was included in documenta, Kassel (1972, 1977, 1982, 2002).

https://www.hanne-darboven.org

Education
1962–65 Study at University of Fine Arts of Hamburg (Hochschule für Bildende Künst, HfBK), Hamburg
Awards, Grants and Fellowships
1997 Member of The Academy of Arts (Akademie der Künste), Berlin
1995 International Prize of the State of Baden-Württemberg for Visual Arts (Internationaler Preis des Landes Baden-Württemberg für Bildende Kunst)
1994 Lichtwark Prize of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (Lichtwark-Preis der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg), Hamburg
1986 Member of The Academy of Arts (Akademie der Künste), Berlin
Public Collections
Centre Pompidou, Paris
ARCO Foundation Collection, Madrid
CODA Museum, Apeldoorn
Daimler Art Collection, Stuttgart
Dia: Beacon, New York
Dia: Chelsea, New York
Frac Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Dunkirk
Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig
Glenstone, Potomac, MD
Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg
Herbig Collection, Cologne
Judith Rothschild Foundation, New York
Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld
Kunsthalle Bremen
Kunstmuseum Bonn
Kunstsammlung des Deutschen Bundestages, Berlin
Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin
Ludwig Forum für internationale Kunst, Aachen
Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich
Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris (MAM), Paris
Musée d’Art moderne et contemporain de Saint-Étienne
Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Donna Regina - MADRE, Naples
Museion, Bolzano
Museum für Moderne Kunst Weserburg, Bremen
Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg
Museum für Moderne Kunst MMK, Frankfurt
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo
National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo
Onnasch Collection, Berlin
Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo
Sammlung Crex, Zurich
Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg
Sammlung FER, Ulm
Sammlung Karl Ströher, Simmern / Hunsrueck
Sammlung Lothar Schirmer, Munich
Sammlung Markus Michalke, Munich
Sammlung Mia und Martin Visser, Bergeyk
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Schaulager, Basel
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York
Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Moenchengladbach
Stedeljik Museum, Amsterdam
Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent
Stiftung Helga und Walther Lauffs, Bad Honnef
Tate, London
The Schaufler Foundation – Schauwerk, Sindelfingen
Ydessa Hendeles Art Foundation, Toronto