Sonja Alhäuser

The art created by Sonja Alhäuser, born in 1969 in Kirchen im Westerwald, can be described as a form of contemporary Baroque. Classical in form, non-traditional in the choice of material, Alhäuser’s body of work centers around the “Banquets” series, in which the artist composes multi-element and eatable installations, prepared to invite the audience to participate in the feast. Further, in other pieces, she often employs non-sculptural materials, such as ice, butter, or champagne when constructing the artwork, applying similar methods as Joseph Beuys. The tendency can be perfectly illustrated with her early “Chocolate Machines” (1997-9), with which she made an international name for herself instantly after her graduation from the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf (1990-5) and the Peter Mertes Scholarship in Bonn (1997). Widely appreciated by curators and critics, the artist has been exhibited alongside Beuys or Dieter Roth, recently partaking shows such as “New Ends” at the Kunstverein in Kassel (2015), “Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art” at the University of Chicago (2012), and “Eat Art” at the Museum of Art in Stuttgart (2010), just to name a few. Currently the artist lives and works in Berlin. In 2017 she had her solo show Top Transit at the Schulz gallery in Berlin.
In September 2020 Alhäuser participated in a group show titled eat drink art thought at the Kunstverein Schwäbisch Hall e.V.