Artist Profiles > R > Tobias Rehberger
Tobias Rehberger (b. 1966, Esslingen) is considered one of the most important contemporary German artists today. Investigative and experiential, his interactive installations have been included in the Gwangju Biennale, Berlin Biennale, Yokohama Triennale, as well as both the 50th and 53rd Venice Biennales. For the former, Rehberger presented a canopy of lamps, which could be turned on by switches located in seven different places around the world. During the latter, he has won the coveted Golden Lion Award for the best artist in the biennale.
Drawing his subjects from quotidian objects, Rehberger creates situations and environments that disrupt our initial perception of objects and their functions; reconstructing our perspective, outlook, and relationship with the subjects. By working closely with geometry and abstract forms through a widely-ranging medium, Rehberger challenges the fine line between art, architecture, and design. The artist thus developed a distinctive style that reflects an interest in man’s relationship with mass culture.
Together with internationally renowned and accomplished artists Carsten Höller, Anri Sala, and Rirkrit Tiravanija, the four of them celebrated STPI’s 15th year milestone as they take on a daring challenge to create artworks with the experimental institution through blind collaboration fueled by pure instinct and spontaneity. The collaborative works were showcased in a group exhibition, Carsten Höller, Tobias Rehberger, Anri Sala & Rirkrit Tiravanija: Exquisite Trust (Blindly Collective Collaborations) (2017).
The artist’s works are in the collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg in Germany, and the Serralves Foundation Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto, Portugal. His major exhibitions were showcased in the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (2014); Artelier Contemporary, Graz (2012); Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle (2011); Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo (2010); Kunsthalle Mannheim (2009); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2008); Fondazione Prada, Milan (2007); Tate Liverpool (2006); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid (2005); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2004); and Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2003).