Biography of Franz Ackermann
The acid-bright paintings, prints, and installations of Franz Ackermann draw attention to and problematize notions of tourism and travel, globalization and urbanism. He is best known for his series Mental Maps, started in 1996, where the artist merges street maps with his own reactions to and interpretations of different cities. Drawing on real life trips around the world, Ackermann gives expression to the excitement, glamor, and fast-paced nature of travelling, yet mingles it with a sense of the damage it can do to the local cityscapes—the waste, the pollution, the architectural destruction.
Born in 1963 in Neumarkt-St Veit, Germany, Franz Ackermann is currently based in Berlin. He has exhibited at many internationally renowned institutions including the Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the Whitney Museum of American Art and The Museum of Modern Art, both in New York. His work is held in the collection of MoMA, New York, and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. His installation Faceland III was created for the Venice Biennale in 2003.
