Katharina Grosse. In Conversation with Klaus Dermutz

When painting goes beyond the canvas

Katharina Grosse is one of today's most radical painters. Her art spills beyond the canvas, claiming entire rooms, buildings, and landscapes with bold color and immersive gesture. Over two years, she met with writer and theologian Klaus Dermutz for a series of in-depth conversations exploring her thoughts on painting, perception, space, and time.

This book brings together ten of these intense dialogues – deeper and more personal than any previous publication. Grosse speaks about visibility and invisibility, repetition and origin, methods and materials, and how painting can be a physical, spatial, and conceptual experience. Unpublished images from her personal archive complement this multifaceted insight into her creative world.

Highlights of the Book:





- Ten in-depth conversations offering new insights into Katharina Grosse's artistic thinking

- Rare archival materials and previously unpublished images

- Reflections on four decades of evolving techniques and concepts

- Part of the acclaimed Hatje Cantz Text series



A must-read for anyone interested in contemporary painting, artistic process, and the power of visual thought.

KATHARINA GROSSE (*1961 in Freiburg i. Br.) has held professorships at Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin (2000–09) and Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (2010–18). Her works are represented in numerous international collections. Most recently, the Albertina in Vienna presented her solo exhibition Why Three Tones Do Not Form a Triangle, 2023–24) and currently the Centre Pompidou – Metz is staging three large-scale in-situ works (Déplacer les étoiles, until February 2025). Grosse lives and works in Berlin and New Zealand.

KLAUS DERMUTZ (*1960 in Judenburg, Austria) is an author and publicist in the fields of visual arts and theater. Since 1990, he has published in Die Zeit, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Theater heute, and others; from 2001–09 he was co-editor of Edition Burgtheater. He has written numerous books on theater, e.g., on Andrea Breth, Otto Sander, Klaus Michael Grüber, Christoph Marthaler, Peter Zadek; he has also published of a volume of conversations with Anselm Kiefer.



Cover

Halftitle

Titlepage

Contents

Foreword

Exhibition views Deichtorhallen Hamburg

"I am on an equal footing with all the elements"

"Arrivals and departures move me the most emotionally"

"The interruption is central in my work"

"The leap is the decisive thing"

"A tree could be a paintbrush"

"The earth is immediately manifest in my system"

"The fold is a great element"

"Vehemence is performed in my work"

"The image always speaks to me in a different language"

"It's like superimposing a thin, quiet voice over and over again"

"The perception of speechlessness in the face of existence"

Dedication and Acknowledgments

Photo Credits

Imprint

Publication