“A Set of Ways of Engaging”: Lisa Lee on Thomas Hirschhorn & Materiality

In this episode of In the Foreground, Caro Fowler speaks with Lisa Lee, Associate Professor of Art History at Emory University and Florence Gould Foundation Fellow at the Clark in spring 2020. While a fellow, Lisa worked on a project tentatively titled “Thomas Hirschhorn’s Real Abstraction, 1984–94,” which focuses on a critical period in the life of the Swiss artist, who is known for his work in collage and monument-making, primarily with found materials. Through working with these materials, often in public spaces, his art grapples with the political, economic, and social conditions of contemporary life. Lisa also discusses her work on the German artist Isa Genzken. This conversation explores Lisa’s interest in the tension of what she describes as work that highlights the possibility of art and its everyday political power.