Author Description

Richard Long is one of the leading protagonists of Land Art. He uses the movement of his own body, hiking and walking through the landscape as a criterion and medium for his art. He has been creating outside works for more than 40 years all over the world, In England, Canada, Japan or Bolivia: large stone circles or lines made of wood. Photographs document these transient works. But right from the beginning the artist has also designed works For The museum space. Here as well, sculptures are created with archetypical forms, made of wood or stone: ellipses, lines or circles. The centre and inspiration for this exhibition at the Hamburger Bahnhof is the eponymous work Berlin Circle. The circle of stone, twelve metres in diametre, laid out on the floor is an important work in the Sammlung Marx and was first unveiled and installed by the artist For The opening of the Hamburger Bahnhof in 1996.'My art is in the nature of things', Long says, referring To The actuality of his works, which as consequent settings of locations on which the nature of things appears in the work, also illustrate questions of the contemporary discourse concerning relationality, performativity, crossing borders And The spatiality of art. Published on the occasion of the exhibition Richard Long: Berlin Circle at Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum f r Gegenwart, Berlin, 26 March - 31 July 2011.