Silke Wagner, If You Want to Rock, You?ve Got to Roll, 2004
neon tubes
Courtesy of the artist
If You Want to Rock, You?ve Got to Roll2004 Silke Wagner?s works often refer to skateboard culture. The artist uses this urban activity as a metaphor for social engagement in the public realm, questioning the increasing laws intended to bring order and security into the city. In collaboration with the artist Stefan Lehnert, she realized for example an alternative city plan of Munich in Germany, mapping the areas and urban furniture that might be used as skateboarding spots.
In the neon piece If You Want to Rock, You?ve Got to Roll, the slogan uses the multiplicity of meanings of the term ?to rock? to question the relationships between urban culture and political engagement. The neon addresses a message to us, inviting us to re-conquer and re-appropriate public space. On another hand, Neon tubes have become a ?classical? material for artists since the sixties. In this way, Wagner also explores the passage of popular culture from public domain to the art gallery, questioning the relevance of displaying street art in art institutions.
Biography
Silke Wagner
(Göppingen, Germany, 1968)
Silke Wagner lives and works in Frankfurt am Main. Silke Wagner’s works often refer to skateboard culture. Wagner uses this urban activity as a metaphor for social engagement in the public realm, questioning the increasing laws intended to bring order and security into the city. She has had solo exhibitions at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k) Berlin (2008); Galerie Wilma Tolksdorf, Frankfurt (2007); Beyond, Leidsche Rijn, Utrecht (2006); and Kunstraum München, Munich (2004). Group exhibitions include Frankfurter Positionen 2001, Frankfurt (2001); Arbeit Essen Angst, Kokerei Zollverein | Zeitgenössische Kunst und Kritik, Essen (2001); Das Neue Europa, Generali Foundation, Wien (2005); Das Große Rasenstück, Nuremberg (2006); Street: behind the cliché, Witte de With, Rotterdam (2006); Skulptur Projekte Münster 07, Münster (2007); L’Europe en devenir (partie 2), Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris (2007); Vertrautes Terrain – Aktuelle Kunst in/über Deutschland, ZKM, Karlsruhe (2008); and the 1st Brussels Biennial, Brussels (2008). In 2009 her work will be shown in the group exhibitions Islands and Ghettos, NGBK, Berlin and Playing the City, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt.
