Haus der Kunst

Liliane Lijn said: "My work is an exercise in seeing the world … I want to feel alive in my work. I want it to breathe. I want its surface to be as skin, translucent, porous, emitting the fine moist heat of the living."

„Arise Alive“ is the first large-scale solo museum show for Liliane Lijn (b. 1939, New York, USA), surveying her career over six decades. Inspired by Surrealist ideas, ancient mythologies and feminist, scientific and linguistic thought, a key focus for Lijn is visualising the invisible, using the latest materials, and experimenting with reflection, motion, and light. She conducted research into invisibility, using and exploring the visualisation of electronic waves, forces, vibration, light, and sound. Before settling in London, Lijn lived in Paris and Athens, where she was among a group of artists and poet friends defining the Kinetic art movement – one connected to space technology and cosmic spirituality. During this period, Lijn became one of the first women artists to experiment with kinetic sculpture, sparking a lifelong commitment to the understanding of energy. The materials she uses – unconventional and often industrial, such as plastics, prisms, and copper wire – are intrinsic to the ideas she explores, becoming the source in which she can experiment. The artist also predominantly works in series, allowing her to explore her complex ideas, experiments, and varied use of materials through iterations of the same work type.

Curated by Emma Enderby with Teresa Retzer.