Over a five-decade career, Hungarian artist Dóra Maurer has pursued highly experimental work in her conceptual photographic series, films, and striking geometric paintings. This summer, thirty-five of Maurer's works will be on display at the Tate Modern, as the first exhibition celebrating her career in the UK.
Maurer started out by training as a graphic artists and printmaker in the 1950s. From the beginning, she displayed a rebellious streak as her early works already began pushing the medium to the limits. The innovative Seven Foldings 1975, for example, involved folding an aluminium printing plate seven times before taking an impression. Maurer then moved towards conceptual photographic series and experimental filmmaking, often exploring abstract sequences and the analysis of everyday gestures.
As part of a generation of avant-garde Hungarian artists of the 1960s, Maurer's work challenged the official art system of the then socialist regime. As well as working as an artist, Maurer became involved in the art world as a teacher and curator, creating an international artists' network throughout Europe. This led to her becoming somewhat of an icon for emerging artists. Her work explored themes of movement, displacement, perception and transformation - themes will continue to feature in her work today.
www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/dora-maurer
5 August 2019 - 5 July 2020, Tate Modern, London UK