peter Brandt

My artistic practice stems from the feminist body art of the 1970s, especially from the American and British art scenes, with Hannah Wilke and Jo Spence as the most important references. It was through the encounter with early feminist art that I learned that any experience can be turned into an artistic manifesto. It was also feminist theory that led me to analyse power relations, both socially and in the private sphere.

I am preoccupied with assault in various contexts, violence, dehumanization, trauma, annihilation of the self, the giving of testimony and particularly the positions of victims in Western society. I am interested in the complex relationship between the individual and collective trauma, as well as the communicative breakdown between the traumatized and the outside world. My practice is always in dialogue with various forms of theoretical thinking, such as feminist theory, masculinity studies, trauma theory, and art historical material.

I am interested in researching masculinity in a historical, social and cultural perspective – a specific focus point is the negotiation between gender and traumatic experience.

In Rome will I carry out research on the life, methodologies and violent death of Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922 -75).