Beatrix Reinhardt

Beatrix Reinhardt

"If one wants to, it becomes visible"

Beatrix grew up in Germany and earned her undergraduate at the Freie Universität Berlin and has exhibited her art all over the world. During the lecture Beatrix talked about just a few of her many works like the historic indoor and outdoor spaces, her trip to South Africa to document different battlegrounds, or her documentation of the Kumbh Mela (a mass Hindu pilgrimage).

To begin her lecture she talked briefly about her appreciation for architecture and landscapes. She thinks of it as "a record

First trip to South Africa

of human activity...residue collector..." or that architecture is related to "everydayness". I think by saying this she is trying to point out that buildings are created to accommodate us in our everyday lives and can be standing for hundreds of years or more. A combination of human touch and history can make for some amazing pieces of art that we live in or around in our everyday lives. After developing a growing interest in history of spaces/places she then traveled to South Africa (Kwazulu Natal) to take pictures of the different landscapes of battle grounds. After one unsuccessful trip she thought that nothing was going to come of the project. Until she went back and decided to keep this idea of archiving and keeping a scientific record of each battle in their own piece of work. This again seems to keep the theme of history

Second trip to South Africa

and significance of the battle grounds or just landscape in general. Although it isn’t a building it still has a history and mark on it that will always be there. Which brings me to her next project where she embossed images while in Siberia. Beatrix said that embossing was the best medium to represent Siberia because, “If one wants to, it becomes visible.” Just like the architecture or the battlegrounds in South Africa. Know that she knows the history, if anyone knows the history, it becomes visible to her. She now knows what happened there and changed how she perceives the building/landscape.

Beatrix Reinhardt really interests me because her view of the world. I like to think, to a small degree, that I occasionally think that way as well. I try my best to appreciate the world and all the commodities we take for granted. Her work gives off that vibe and without this lecture I would have never known by just seeing her works.