Thomas Locher

Thomas Locher (born 1956 in Mundekringen, lives and works in Berlin), a pioneering German artist for the realm of neo-conceptual art, achieved international renown for his spatial text works and installations. He has been consistently concerned for many years with foundations like the grammatical order of language and the complexity of its functioning in legal texts or economics, foundations that seem permanent, but nonetheless contain a portion of fictionality. His engagement with systems of meaning stretches also to their content, especially the political implications and the practical impacts on the life reality of individuals and groups. If we speak about Thomas Locher’s works, we are tempted to follow the conceptuality of the theories that lie at their foundation. But his works do not represent linguistic or sociological research, nor are they theories set into image. They stand as artworks, as aesthetic units of their own, their consistent design, sober on first glance, on second glance soaked in irony, allow us to follow his considerations without reference to theories.

Thomas Locher has exhibited his work around the world: KMD Kunsthalle Marcel Duchamp, The Forestay Museum of Art, Cully Galerie, Galerie Silberkuppe, Berlin (2017), Secession Vienna (2013), ZKM Karlsruhe (2012), Kunstmuseum Stuttgart (2012), MAK, Vienna (2012), Kunstpalais Erlangen (2012), Berlin Biennale, Georg Kargl BOX, Vienna (2010), ZKM, Karlsruhe (2009), Kunstverein Heilbronn (2007), Museum of Modern Art, New York (2006), Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna (2006, 2002, 1999), Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2004), Museum of Modern Art Saitama/Japan (1994), Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (1992) and Tate Gallery, Liverpool (1989).