Susanne Titz: The phenomenology of doing, a call for emancipation

In the 1960s, the visual arts fell prey to consumer culture. At any rate, that is how artists like Robert Morris or Richard Serra saw matters. They rebelled by showing doing, action and working; instead of the object, it was the actual creative process that came into the spotlight. They wanted a form of art that would not be co-opted, that was not iconic. By making actions visible, a new relationship was to be forged with the viewer and the surrounding space. These, in turn, became major components of the artwork. Art was to lead to the illumination and emancipation of the viewer: art was to generate an inner consciousness for the human relationships with the object, with the space and the world. In her lecture, Susanne Titz showed amongst other things film material and talks by Robert Morris, Gerry Schum and Richard Serra. Susanne Titz (born in 1964) has been director of the Abteiberg Museum in Mönchengladbach since 2004. Before that, she was the artistic director of the New Aachen Art Association.

Lecture in English