Renate Bertlmann

Her diverse practice spans across painting, drawing, collage, photography, sculpture and performance, and actively confronts the social stereotypes assigned to masculine and feminine behaviours and relationships.

In addition, she started to create sculptures made of condoms with spikes, prongs and breaks to denounce male fantasies of violence against women.

Some of her early performances include Deflorazione in 14 Stazioni [Defloration in 14 Stations], (1977) at the Museo Comunale d'Arte Moderna in Bologna, Die Schwangere Braut im Rollstuhl (Pregnant bride in wheelchair) (1978) at the Modern Art Gallery in Vienna, Die Schwangere Braut mit dem Klingelbeutel (The Pregnant Bride with the Collection Bag) (1978), and Let's Dance Together(1978) at Stichting de Appel, Amsterdam and the Modern Art Gallery, Vienna.

[8] In 1978 Bertlmann started to use her motto 'AMO ERGO SUM' [I love, therefore I am],[9] which inspires the production of an eponymous titled letter-box filled with 77 letters containing secret messages from the artist to other people.

The same year, she displayed a series of latex objects titled Streicheleinheit [Caress] as the large-scale installation Waschtag [Washing Day] at the Women's Museum in Bonn, and participates in the action 'Dokumente', a parallel event during documenta 7 in Kassel.

In 1994 she became a member of the Secession in Vienna, and one year later curates the exhibition 'fem.art* - photographic obsessions' for the organisation FLUSS - Society for the Promotion of Photo and Media Art, Lower Austria, which she co-founded in 1989.

In 2000, during a six-months London residency founded by Austrian Ministry for Education, Art and Culture, Bertlmann creates Enfant terribles [e.g. Mama's Liebling, Innocenz VI.]

Two years later, the SAMMLUNG VERBUND in Vienna presents a retrospective of Bertlmann's work, including full-size replicas of her installations, photographs, drawings and sculptures.

[12] At the same time she has a solo show 'Hier ruht meine Zärtlichkeit' in the new State Gallery of Lower Austria in Krems, in which a mixture of older and recent works emphasize the issue of tenderness in Bertlmann's feminist approach.