Hanne Darboven (29 April 1941 – 9 March 2009) was a German conceptual artist, best known for her large scale minimalist installations consisting of handwritten tables of numbers.
Hanne Darboven grew up in Rönneburg, a southern suburb of Hamburg, as the second of three daughters of Cäsar Darboven and Kirsten Darboven. Her father was a successful and well-to-do businessman in Hamburg; the family brand Darboven coffee is well known in Germany.
Following a brief episode as a pianist, Darboven studied art with Willem Grimm, Theo Garve and Almir Mavignier at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg from 1962 to 1965. From 1966 to 1968, she lived in New York City, at first in total isolation from the New York art scene. She then moved back to her family home in Hamburg and continued to live and work there among an extraordinary collection of disparate cultural artefacts until her death in 2009.
Konstruktionen
In the winter of 1966–1967, she met Sol LeWitt, Carl Andre and Joseph Kosuth, representatives of Minimal Art. Soon afterwards her first series of drawings on millimeter paper with lists of numbers, which resulted from complicated additions or multiplications of personally derived numerical sequences based on the four to six digits used to notate the date, month, and year of the standard Gregorian calendar. The calendar sequence has consistently formed the basis for the majority of her installations, and the ‘daily arithmetic’ consisting of checksums came to replace the year’s calendrical progression according to a complex and challenging mathematical logic. Always written out by hand, her paperwork thus comprised rows and rows of ascending and descending numbers, u-shapes, grids, line-notations and boxes. Employing this neutral language of numbers and using pen, pencil, the typewriter, and graph paper as materials, she began to make simple linear constructions of numbers that she called Konstruktionen. Similar to On Kawara, Darboven offered a system to represent time as both the continuous flux of life and clear embracing order. Along with LeWitt and Andre, Lucy Lippard and Kasper König belonged to the circle of long-standing promoters of Darboven's work.
In the 1970s, Darboven often allied her work, which she considered a form of writing, to the accomplishments of writers such as Heinrich Heine and Jean-Paul Sartre, directly transcribing quotations or entire passages of their texts, or translating them into patterns. By 1978, Darboven was also incorporating visual documents, such as photographic images and assorted objects that she found, purchased, or received as gifts. Doing so, she addressed specifically historical issues. The monumental work entitled Vier Jahreszeiten (Four seasons) (1981), which Darboven exhibited at Documenta 7 in Kassel, was the first of Darboven's works to be really permeated with color, introduced into it by the use of kitsch postcards.
Also in 1978, she first conceived her first large scale installations. Ever since, Darboven's work has often occupied large spaces: her installation Cultural History 1880–1983, (1980–1983) with its 1,589 individually framed works on paper of uniform format and 19 sculptural elements takes up 7,000 square feet. Reducing the Gregorian calendrical notation to only forty-two denominations for each century, the work weaves together cultural, social, and historical references with autobiographical documents, postcards, pinups of film and rock stars, documentary references to the first and second world wars, geometric diagrams for textile weaving, a sampling of New York doorways, illustrated covers from news magazines, the contents of an exhibition catalogue devoted to postwar European and American art, a kitschy literary calendar, and extracts from some of Darboven's earlier works.
An example of Darboven's work during her most prolific period is Sunrise / Sunset, New York, NYC, today. The work has been made in 1984 and consists of 385 drawings of felt pen on graph paper. The size is 31 x 35 cm each. The first drawing of each month is decorated with a nostalgic postcard showing prominent spots and picturesque scenes of past New York. The first drawing of each month is titled heute ("today"). All other days of the month are numbered consecutively. The total work is hung in monthly blocks of 30 or 31 day-drawings additional to the introductory postcard-drawing. Altogether the work represents a time period of living and working and at the same time evokes nostalgic memories of the past. Less minimalist, South Korean Calendar, 1991 presents pages from a South Korean calendar, with the days of the month marked in large Roman numerals that occasionally turn from black to red or blue for no obvious reason. The numerals are filled with a lacelike pattern of white dots and surrounded by a host of colorful details: little blue drawings of diamond rings and stainless steel wristwatches, yin-yang signs, elegant Korean characters.
Mathematical Music
In the 1980s, Darboven further expanded her scope by including musical arrangements and photographs in her displays. In her so-called “Mathematical Music”, she converted the numbers contained in her rows and columns into sounds. Numbers were assigned to certain notes, and numerical series translated into musical scores. With the aid of a collaborator, Darboven adapted them into performable compositions for organ, double bass, harpsichord, string quartet, and chamber orchestra. She translated her additive concept of dates into musical scores, in which the digit 1 stands for the note e, 2 for f, 3 for g, etc. Compound numbers are expressed as an interval of two notes, e.g. 31=g-e, 24=f-h, etc., and numbers combined with 0 are used as broken chords. Hanne Darboven: ‘My systems are numeric concepts that work according to the laws of progression and/or reduction in the manner of a musical theme with variations.’ Wende 80 (Turning point 80) (1980), using an interview with Helmut Schmidt and Franz Josef Strauss, is the first piece in Darboven's work which is simultaneously a musical score. This music is preserved on 11 long-playing records in a black case (an edition of 250 was pressed).
Originally shown in Documenta 11 (2002) as a collection of loose pages in folders, the monumental Wunschkonzert (1984) consists of 1008 pages of uniform size divided into 4 Opus's (Opus 17a and b and Opus 18a and b). Each Opus comprises 36 poems, and each poem is made of 6 pages plus a title page on which an antiquarian greeting card celebrating a Christian confirmation has been collaged. The poems reveal a rhythmic movement in their increasing and decreasing rows of numbers, and the checksum values are represented in digits and line-notations (17a, 18a) or by digits entered into a grid (17b, 18b). This work adopts musical methods of movement and repetitive rhythms and was conceived against the backdrop of musical compositions by the artist.
Legacy
Established in 2000 and named after its founder, the Hanne Darboven Foundation promotes contemporary art by supporting young talents, which, in particular, tackle the theme of ‘space and time’ in the realms of Conceptual art, visual arts, compositions, and literature. The heir of the artist's estate, the foundation recorded Darboven’s complete Requiem Cycle. In order to preserve the artist's work and make parts of her own collection available to the public, the foundation purchased her former Rönneburg residence in 2012.
Exhibitions
Hanne Darboven’s works have been presented in numerous exhibitions in Germany and abroad. Her first solo exhibition outside Germany took place at Art & Project, Amsterdam, in 1970. The exhibition of her two-part work Card Index: Filing Cabinet (1975), simultaneously held in two New York galleries in 1978, was the first time that Darboven had shown her work in the United States, following a decision to stop exhibiting temporarily in 1976. Darboven has since had numerous one-person exhibitions primarily in Europe and North America, including major presentations at the Deichtorhallen, Hamburg; the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; and the Dia Center for the Arts, New York. Individual works by Darboven were already included in the Documenta 5, 6 and 7, and in 1982 she represented the Federal Republic of Germany at the Venice Biennale (along with Gotthard Graubner and Wolfgang Laib). At the Documenta 11 her oeuvre was shown in all its many facets on three floors of the Fridericianum in Kassel, making it the "centerpiece of the exhibition" with more than 4,000 drawings.
Darboven's work was first shown by Galerie Konrad Fischer in Cologne. Gallerist Leo Castelli gave her nine shows between 1973 and 1995. Count Panza bought several of her works. Today Darboven's work is represented by Konrad Fischer Gallery and Gallery Sprüth Magers.
Selected exhibitions
1967/68: Hanne Darboven. Konstruktionen - Zeichnungen, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
1968: Div. Zeichnungen, 1967, DIN A 2, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
1969: Hanne Darboven: Ausstellung mit 6 Filmprojektoren nach 6 Büchern über 1968, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach *
1969: ›1968‹ und ›Ein Jahrhundert‹, Galerie Heiner Friedrich, München
1970: Hanne Darboven, Galerie Michael Werner, Köln
1970: Das Jahr 1970, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
1979: Hanne Darboven. 53 Wochen 75, Galerie Paul Maenz, Köln Hanne Darboven. Zeichnungen, Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst, Bremerhaven
1980: Hanne Darboven: Milieu ›80‹ – today (für Walter Mehring) / Hanne Darboven: "Für Walther Mehring", Leo Castelli Gallery, New York / Palazzo Atelier, Köln
1980: Hanne Darboven. Schreibzeit 75 / 80, Halle für Internationale Kunst, InK, Zürich
1981: Hanne Darboven. Milieu ›80‹, Galerie Paul Maenz, Köln
1981: Hanne Darboven: Wende ›80‹, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York / Konrad Fischer Galerie, Zürich / Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn / Gelbe Musik, Berlin
1986: Hanne Darboven: "Histoire de la Culture 1880 — 1983", "24 chants", Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris
1987: Hanne Darboven: R.M. Rilke. Das Stundenbuch, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
1987: Hanne Darboven. Bismarckzeit, Galerie Paul Maenz, Köln Hanne Darboven. Theatre, Galerie Elisabeth Kaufmann, Zürich
1988: Hanne Darboven. Für Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Kunstraum München, München / Galerie Elisabeth Kaufmann, Zürich
1988: Hanne Darboven. Editionen 1978 — 88, Edition Schellmann, München / New York
1989: Hanne Darboven. Ansichten ›85‹, Dortmunder Kunstverein, Dortmund / Helms-Museum, Hamburger Museum für Archäologie und die Geschichte Harburgs, Hamburg
1989: ATTA TROLL – eine Arbeit in Zahlenworten, daad Galerie, Berlin
1989: Lehrstunde der Nachtigall, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Stuttgart Hanne Darboven, Existenz, Galerie Paul Maenz, Köln
1989/90: Hanne Darboven, Quartett ›88‹: Marie Curie, Rosa Luxemburg, Gertrude Stein, Virginia Woolf, Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Chicago / Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin / Portikus, Frankfurt am Main / Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
1990: Hanne Darboven: Kurt Schwitters, Busche Galerie, Köln
1990: Hanne Darboven: For Abraham Lincoln, James Corcoran Gallery, Santa Monica
1990: Hanne Darboven: Opus 26 Quartette Modell 1 – 9 1989 / 90, Galerie Elisabeth Kaufmann, Basel / Galerie Metropol, Wien
1990: Hanne Darboven: Requiem for M. Oppenheimer, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
1990: Hanne Darboven: Primitive Zeit / Uhrzeit (Hanne Darboven: Primitive Time / Clock Time), Goldie Paley Gallery / Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia
1991: Evolution ›86‹, Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst, München / Ydessa Hendeles Foundation, Toronto / Kunsthalle Basel, Basel
1991: Hanne Darboven. "Opus 26", 1989 / 90 und andere Arbeiten, Galerie Six Friedrich, München
1991: Schreibzeit: Weltansichten, 1982, Monika Sprüth Galerie, Köln Hanne Darboven: "24 Gesänge, Opus 14a" und andere Editionen, Galerie Sima, Nürnberg
1991: Hanne Darboven: Symphonie Fin de Siècle – Opus 27 / ABC-Symphonie – Opus 37, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel
1991: Hanne Darboven. Die geflügelte Erde, Requiem, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburg / Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
1992: Hanne Darboven. Aufbruch ins dritte Jahrtausend, Galerie der Stadt Sindel ngen, Sindelfingen
1999: Musikwerke Bildender Künstler, Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin / Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn
2002: Hanne Darboven – Kosmos ›85‹ – Weltreise – In Gedanken an Humboldt – Kosmos, Galerie Jule Kewenig, Frechen
2003: Galerie Elisabeth Kaufmann, Zürich
2003: Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich
2004: Querschnitt. Hanne Darboven in den Phoenix-Fabrikhallen, Phoenix Kulturstiftung (Sammlung Falckenberg), Hamburg
2004: Hanne Darboven – ein Jahrhundert-ABC, Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover
2005: Hanne Darboven, Klemens Gasser & Tanja Grunert, New York
2006: Hanne Darboven: Selected Work, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
2006: Hanne Darboven, Helga Maria Klosterfelde Edition, Berlin Hanne Darboven – ein Jahrhundert-ABC, 2002, Galerie Crone, Berlin
2006: Hanne Darboven. Hommage à Picasso, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin
2006: Hanne Darboven, Galerie Martine Aboucaya, Paris
2007: Hanne Darboven, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
2007: Hanne Darboven, Galerie Greta Meert, Brüssel
2008: Hanne Darboven, Galerie Elisabeth Kaufmann, Zürich
2008: Hanne Darboven. Fin de Siècle – Buch der Bilder, Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin
2008: Hanne Darboven, Helga Maria Klosterfelde Edition, Berlin
2009: Hanne Darboven - Konstruktionen 1968, Marc Foxx, Los Angeles Accrochage, Galerie Crone, Berlin
2009: Hanne Darboven, Galerie Klosterfelde, Berlin
2009: Hanne Darboven, Sutton Lane, Paris
2009/10: Der Sand, Galerie Kewenig, Köln
2010: First Floor. Hanne Darboven, Galerie Crone, Berlin
2010: Wunschkonzert, Regen Projects, Los Angeles
2011: Hanne Darboven. Sunrise / Sunset, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Berlin
2012: Wunschkonzert, 1984, Sutton Lane, Paris
2012: Hanne Darboven, Camden Arts Centre, London Wunschkonzert, 1984, Galerie Klosterfeld, Berlin
2012/13: Hanne Darboven - Index, P420, Bologna
2013: Hanne Darboven – Exhibition and Musical Performance (Kalender 94, Postum OP 42 A B C D, Bläserquintett / Opus 26 Quartette
2013: Modell 1 — 9 1989 / 90), Museo della Musica, Bologna
2013: Hanne Darboven – A Survey, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
2013: Hanne Darboven, Musik aus Wende 80, Eyvind Kang and Trevor Dunn Swiss Institute, New York
2013/14: Hanne Darboven: Ein Jahrhundert, Galerie Crone, Berlin
2014: Wie flüchtig ist die Zeit! Hanne Darboven, Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg
2014: Oren Ambarchi: Knots / EVOL play Hanne Darboven, ISSUE Project Room, New York
2014: The order of time and things: The home studio of Hanne Darboven, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid / * *2014: Deichtorhallen Hamburg – Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg, in Zusammenarbeit mit der Hanne Darboven Stiftung, Hamburg
2014: Eine Nacht mit den "Queens of Minimal": Hanne Darboven und Chloé im Städel, Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
2015: accepting anything among everything, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh
2015: Hanne Darboven. Es geht um's Essen, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf
2015/16: Hanne Darboven: Aufklärung – Zeitgeschichten. Eine Retrospektive
Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn / Haus der Kunst, München
2016: Hanne Darboven, Galerie Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles
2016/17: Hanne Darboven: Kulturgeschichte, 1890 - 1983, Dia Art Foundation, New York City
Wiehager, Renate (ed.): 'Minimalism in Germany - The Sixties / Minimalismus in Deutschland - die 1960er Jahre', exhibition catalogue, Daimler Contemporary, Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz 2012
Rattemeyer, Christian: 'Kompass - Zeichnungen aus dem Museum of Modern Art, New York', exhibition catalogue, New York: The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection; Martin-Gropius-Bau Berlin, Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz 2011
Gaensheimer, Susanne / Kramer, Mario (eds.): 'The Lucid Evidence. Fotografie aus der Sammlung MMK', exhibition catalouge, Frankfurt am Main: Museum für Moderne Kunst and Nürnberg: Verlag für Moderne Kunst 2010
Whitney, Alexandra (ed.): 'The Helga and Walther Lauffs Collection’ [Vol. 1 and 2], exhibition catalogue, Göttingen: Zwirner & Wirth 2009
Adler, Daniel: 'Hanne Darboven. Cultural History. 1880-1983', London: Afterall Books 2009
Cherix, Christophe: 'In & Out of Amsterdam. Travels in Conceptual Art. 1960-1976', exhibition catalogue, New York: The Museum of Modern Art 2009
Sperlinger, Mike: 'Afterthought new writing on conceptual art', London: Rachmaninoff's 2005
Lailach, Michael: 'Printed matter - die Sammlung Marzona in der Kunstbibliothek', exhibition catalogue, Berlin: Staatliche Museen Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz 2005
Kölle, Brigitte: 'Die Kunst des Ausstellens. Untersuchungen zum Werk des Künstlers und Kunstvermittlers Konrad Lueg, Fischer (1939-1996)', Hildesheim 2005
Carl, Bettina: 'Hard Work Looking Easy, the Ballerinas Always Smile: Notes on the Art of Hanne Darboven', In: Sperlinger, Mike (ed.): 'Afterthought: New Writings on Conceptual Art', London: Rachmaninoffs 2005, pp. 45-64
Schlüter, Maik (ed.): 'Hanne Darboven. Ein Jahrhundert-ABC', Hannover: Kestner-Gesellschaft 2004
Michael Corris (ed.): 'Hanne Darboven: Seriality and the Time of Solitude, Conceptual Art: Theory, Myth and Practice', New York: Cambridge University Press 2004
Graw, Isabelle: 'Die bessere Hälfte, Künstlerinnen des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts', Köln: DuMont 2003
Bippus, Elke: 'Serielle Verfahren, Pop Art, Minimal Art, Conceptual Art und Postminimalism', Berlin: Reimer 2003
Newman, Michael: 'Remembering and Repeating: Hanne Darboven´s Work', In: Cooke, Lynne / Kelly, Karen (eds.): Robert Lehman Lectures on Contemporary Art, Vol. 2, New York: Dia Center for the Arts 2003
Bippus, Elke / Westheider, Ortrud (eds.): 'Hanne Darboven: Kommentiertes Werkverzeichnis der Bücher (Bücher 1966 – 2002)', exhibition catalogue, Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Münster, Köln: Walther König 2002
Adriani, Götz: 'Kunst im Reichstagsgebäude', Köln: DuMont 2002
Kuhn, N.: 'POETRY INTERMEDIA – Künstlerbücher nach 1960', exhibition catalogue, Berlin: Kunstbibliothek, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Preußischer Kulturbesitz 2002
Wagner, T.: 'Hanne Darboven - Die Bücher 1971-2001', exhibition catalogue, Münster: Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte 2002
Grosenick, Uta: 'Women Artists in the 20th and 21st Century', Köln: Taschen Verlag 2001
Jussen, Bernhard: 'Hanne Darboven – Schreibzeit', Max-Planck-Institut für Geschichte, exhibition catalogue, König: Walther König 2000
Hanne Darboven. Kreuzfahrt zur Hölle, exhibition catalogue, Berlin: Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e.V., IfA, and Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz 2000
Kaak, Joachim /Thierolf, Corinna (eds.): 'Hanne Darboven / John Cage: a Dialogue of Artworks', Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz 2000
Herzogenrath, Wulf / Friedel, Helmut (eds.): 'Von Beuys bis Cindy Sherman', exhibition catalouge, München: Sammlung Lothar Schirmer 1999
Felix, Zdenek: 'Hanne Darboven. Ein Reader', Hamburg: Oktagon 1999
Lil, Kira van: 'Hanne Darboven. Menschen und Landschaften', Hamburg 1999
Westheider, Orturd (ed.): 'Hanne Darboven. Das Frühwerk', exhibition catalogue, Hamburg: Hamburger Kunsthalle; Berlin: Kulturstiftung der Länder 1999
Carnegie International: Hanne Darboven – Live, Living A I, II; B I, II; C, I, II (1998), exhibition catalouge, Pittsburgh: Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute 1999
Chronos & Kairos: Die Zeit in der Zeitgenössischen Kunst, exhibition catalogue, Kassel: Museum Fridericianum 1999
Doherty, Brigit / Nisbet, Peter: 'Works, Hanne Darboven, 1969/1972/1983', exhibition brochure, Issue 28 of Harvard University Art Museums gallery series, Camebridge: Bush-Resinger Museum, Harvard University Museums Gallery 1999
Painting, Object, Film, Concept: Works from the Herbig Collection, exhibition catalogue, New York: Christie's 1998
Darboven, Hanne: 'Briefe aus New York 1966-68 an zu Hause (999 monogrammierte Exemplare)', Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz 1997
Szeemann, Harald: '4e Biennale de Lyon d'art contemporain', exhibition catalogue, Lyon: Réunion des Musées Nationaux 1997
Graw, Isabelle: 'Work Ennobles – I´m staying bourgeois (Hanne Darboven)', In: de Zegher, Catherine (ed.): Inside the Visible: An Eliptical Traverse of 20th Century Art in, of and From the Feminine, Cambridge: MIT Press 1996
Darboven, Hanne: 'Wenn artig, warum nicht eigenartig', Ostfildern: Cantz 1995
Kramer, Mario / Hanne Darboven: 'Ein Jahrhundert-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe gewidmet, 1971-1982/A Century-Dedicated to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1971-1982', Frankfurt: Museum für Moderne Kunst 1994
Garrels, Gary: 'Photography in Contemporary German Art, 1960 to the Present', exhibition catalogue, Minneapolis: Walker Art Center 1992
Faust, Wolfgang / Max, Paul Maenz: 'Köln Jahresbericht 1979', Cologne: Paul Maenz 1980
Burgbacher-Krupka, Ingrid: 'Strukturen zeitgenössicher Kunst. Eine empirische Untersuchung zur Rezeption der Werke von Beuys, Darboven, Flavin, Long, Walther', Stuttgart: Enke 1979
Cramer, Richard / Lippard R., Lucy: 'Intricate Structure/Repeated Image', exhibition catalogue, Philadelphia: Tyler School of Art of Temple University 1979
Darboven, Hanne: '00 > 99 Ein Jahrhundert I > XII', Hamburg 1976
Functions of Drawing', Otterlo: Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller 1975
Painting, Drawing and Sculpture of the '60s and the '70s from the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection, exhibition catalogue, Philadelphia: Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania 1975
Félix, Zdenek: 'Zeichnen/Bezeichnen,Zeicchnungen aus der Sammlung Mia und Martin Visser, mit Beiträugen aus der Sammlung Geert Jan Visser', exhibition catalogue, Basel: Kunstmuseum Basel 1976
Darboven, Hanne: 'El Lissitzky. Kunst und Pangeometrie', Brussels: Daled, and Société des Expositions, and Hamburg: Hossmann 1974
Lippard, Lucy R.: '555,087', exhibition catalogue, Seattle: The Council 1969
Szeemann, Harald: '1Live in Your Head: When Attitudes Become Form: Works-Concepts-Processes-Situations-Information', exhibition catalogue, Bern: Kunsthalle Bern 1969
Strelow, Hans (ed.): 'Sammlung 1968: Karl Ströher', exhibition catalogue, Berlin: Kunstverein and Neue Nationalgalerie 1969
Art in Series, exhibition catalogue, New York: Finch College Museum of Art 1968