Paola Malavassi is the Costa Rican-born director of DAS MINSK, where she is curating Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt: Nichts Neues.
Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt was born in 1932 and produced art all throughout the GDR, but stopped after Germany’s reunification. Why?
It is a bit of a mystery, but she once said that the newfound geographical freedom had fundamentally altered the function of making and distributing art. The parameters of artistic production had radically changed, and it was no longer possible for her to produce new art. That’s why we named the show Nichts Neues (‘Nothing new’).
During the GDR, she used mail art to contact artists living under other dictatorial regimes around the world. Did this put her in danger?
Not really, but of course it was risky. There was a big network of artists that she and her husband were in contact with, and many were doing mail art like them. They were being observed, even though the authorities didn’t take it too seriously as an art form.
A great deal of her work is about personal liberation.
There’s so much in her art about the limitations of language, about overcoming the limitations of paper and its two-dimensionality. But she also raises important questions about overcoming cognitive, geographical and systemic barriers, asking us to go further in reflection. She says, “We’re all in a cage so big that we don’t even notice.”
Wolf-Rehfeldt is known for her “typewritings” – highly poetic text – and sign-based works made entirely on a typewriter.
They’re an amalgamation of art and concrete poetry that hadn’t been seen before. She used the typewriter like a musician, like a pianist getting the best sound out of their instrument. She experimented with how words and signs function visually, with an awareness of the pressure of the fingers on each key and of how the imprint on the paper can impact the composition.
They’re an amalgamation of art and concrete poetry that hadn’t been seen before.
Her political interests seem timely, too.
We haven’t moved on. Whether she’s talking about racism, feminism or nuclear war, she always poses the question: “Where do you stand?” And encourages us to reflect.
Last year she won the Hannah Höch Prize. How does she handle the attention?
She’s quite surprised by it. Through mail art, she distributed work that was totally contrary to the rules of the art market. She is really down to earth, just a very warm and open person who’s curious about how new generations are looking at her work.
- Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt: Nichts Neues Through May 7. DAS MINSK, Potsdam, details.