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Pousttchi Bettina
Discover the artist and the work through the video at the link.
In Vertical Highways, Bettina Pousttchi reinterprets everyday objects, assigning them alternative meanings and creating a dialogue between material, form, and space. The sculpture is made from deformed road barriers, typically used in urban environments to separate traffic lanes on highways. However, the artist transforms these horizontal infrastructure elements into vertical sculptures, altering their form and context.
The work reflects Pousttchi’s interest in urban structures and their impact on our perception of space, offering a new perspective on familiar elements of the cityscape. It highlights the dynamics of urban life and explores the boundaries between functionality and aesthetics, emphasizing the human capacity to imbue seemingly mundane material objects with meaning.
Bettina Pousttchi stands as one of Germany’s foremost contemporary artists and has also received significant recognition internationally, especially in the USA, where solo exhibitions of her work have been held in institutions such as the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, the Nasher Sculp- ture Center in Dallas and the Arts Club of Chicago.
Bettina Pousttchi was born in Mainz in 1971. Lives and works in Berlin.
Education
1999/2000 Whitney Independent Studio Program, Whitney Museum, New York
1995-1999 Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (with Prof. Gerhard Merz and Prof. Rosemarie Trockel)
1992-1997 Studies in philosophy, art and film history, Universities of Cologne and Bochum
1990-1992 Studies in Fine Art, Université de Paris
Grants and Awards (selection)
2016 Villa Aurora, Los Angeles
2014 Wolfsburg Art Award
2008 TrAIN Research Center for Transnational Art, Identity and Nation, University of the Arts, London 2007 BBAX – Berlin Buenos Aires Art Exchange, Buenos Aires
2005 Provinzial Förderprojekt
2000 Kunststiftung NRW
Collections (selection)
Nasher Sculpture Center Dallas Margulies Collection Miami Rennie Collection Vancouver The Arts Club of Chicago
The Phillips Collection Washington DC Freybe Collection Vancouver Kunsthalle Bielefeld
Nasher Collection Dallas
Hall Collection New York
Blake Byrne/Skylark Foundation Los Angeles Levine Collection Washington DC
Wemhöner Collection, Herford/Berlin
Kadist Collection Paris
Collection of the Federal Republic of Germany University Cologne Art Collection
Arp Museum Rolandseck
Von-der-Heydt Museum, Wuppertal
Absolut Art Collection, Stockholm
Städtische Galerie / City Art Gallery Wolfsburg Collection Essl, Klosterneuburg/Vienna
MMAG Foundation Amman, Jordan