Lorenza Böttner. Requiem for the norm

An exhibition by
Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart and
La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, Barcelona

Curators
Paul B. Preciado

Introduction

From February 23 until July 28, 2019, the Wurttembergischer Kunstverein presents the first monographic exhibition dedicated to the work of Lorenza Böttner (Punta Arenas, Chile, 1959 – Munic, Germany, 1994). Curated by philosopher, curator and transgender activist Paul B. Preciado, this project is co-produced with La Virreina Centre de la Imatge in Barcelona, shown until February 3, 2019.

Lorenza Böttner, who painted with her feet and mouth and who used photography, drawing, dance, installation and performance as means of aesthetic expression, defies processes of desubjectivation and desexualisation, internment and invisibilisation to which transgender and functionally diverse bodies are subjected.
Born as Ernst Lorenz Böttner in 1959 into a German family living in Chile, he suffered an accident when he was eight years old, which resulted in the loss of both his arms. Considered as disabled by the medical regime, he was institutionalised with the “Contergan Children” in Germany where he moved with his mother after the accident. In 1978, he became a student at the Gesamthochschule (today the Kunsthochschule) Kassel. She changed her name to Lorenza Böttner and further developed her artistic practice of drawing and painting through the incorporation of dance, performance, photography, and fashion design. Lorenza Böttner died of HIV related causes after 16 years of intense art production.

A small selection of Lorenza Böttner’s artwork was on show in 2017 at documenta 14 in Kassel. For the exhibitions in Barcelona and Stuttgart, a large share of the stored works have been viewed and catalogued for the first time. The Stuttgart show will be the most comprehensive presentation of her work to date. Next to drawings, pastels, and oil paintings, it presents a series of videos that document her performances and the artist's life.

The exhibition is an irreverent and dynamic showcase of the rights of transgender and functionally diverse people, and a journey into the unique, remarkable work of an artist who is destined to become a classic of the twentieth century—making an indispensable contribution to the criticism of the normalization of the body and of the social gender.