AGNES SCHERER

Agnes Scherer (b. 1985, Lohr am Main, Germany) lives and works in Berlin and Salzburg. She studied painting at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf and is currently a professor of Painting at Mozarteum University Salzburg. Scherer’s practice involves the fusion of painting, collage and handcrafted artefacts to form large-scale installations reminiscent of theatrical stages. Scherer’s immersive narratives demand active engagement from the viewer as she interrogates power dynamics and their underlying psychologies by employing anachronisms and universally recognised symbols. Informed by analyses of artistic, anthropological and cultural histories, her work often illustrates the uncanny ways in which historical systems, economies and societal roles are reflected in the present. Scherer’s wild assemblages take form as volatile puppet shows with recurring motifs—such as enigmatic angels—that appear and act as inscrutable controllers of fate. Scherer’s extravagant exhibitions, which often incorporate performative elements, willingly escape clear definition or judgement suggesting that she, like the viewer, may be complicit.