Beyond Conservation: Object, Event, Performance in Franz Erhard Walther's Werkstücke

This presentation focuses on Franz Erhard Walther’s Werkstücke, explicating their complex materiality as not only objects and not entirely performances. In this account, the definition of Walther’s Werkstücke remains fluid, gravitating between implements and sculptures, inviting a variety of aesthetic interpretations and testing the limits of traditional conservation. Walther’s works unfold as heterogeneous artworks-assemblages of activated performances and simultaneously active physical artifacts. Their completion in the mind of the viewer adds yet another level of complexity to the work.