Art|Unlimited

42 |Art Unlimited
HANNE DARBOVEN
Title | Der Sand, 1979
Media |Handwriting in ink on 456 sheets of glassine paper; 29.5 x21cmeach,
framed 31 x22.5cm each, total dimensions variable
Artist |Hanne Darboven, 1941 -2009
Born in Munich, Germany; died in Hamburg, Germany
Gallery |Kewenig
Mobile +49 171 4448467
Kewenig Galerie
DE-50667 Köln |Appellhofplatz 21
Phone +49 221 9649050 |Fax +49 221 96490529
info@kewenig.com |www.kewenig.com
Director |Michael O.Kewenig
Artwork Description |Hanne Darboven is one of the most influential artists ofthe past decades. In
1966, she moved toNew York for two years, where she came into contact with
the leading artists of the then-emerging Conceptual and Minimal Art movements.
It was during this time that she began her series of Constructions, the basic,
systematic structure that would set the tone for her entire oeuvre.
Der Sand (The Sand) comprises 456 pages of handwriting in ink on transparent
paper representing each day of the year 1979. Beginning with an investigation of
the word 'sand' the artist transcribed all entries on the word found in the German
Brockhaus Encyclopaedia: George Sand, sandbox, sandglass, etc. From 'sandglass,'
Darboven switches to the headword 'Chronos,' which leads her to
'chronology,''writing,' and 'Hiroshima,' which inturn leads her to texts on current
political events inthe German weekly magazine Der Spiegel. Other pages are
filled with slanting lines, reminiscent ofhandwriting but completely void of content,
meaning, and syntax. Such 'handwriting' also bears witness toatemporal
process. As in all of Darboven's works, the writing in Der Sand plays adual role,
namely, asanindependent, legible transcription of an actual text and as handwriting
as such.
Der Sand, 1979