Rosemarie Trockel and the Body of Society

Abstract

This article considers the eclectic early work of German artist Rosemarie Trockel, which the author addresses in relation to the specific historical and political conditions of feminism and difference in postwar Germany. Her argument discusses the ways in which the very subject of 'difference' in postwar Germany was conflicted -approaching a taboo -that impacted the nature of the sexual revolution, postwar politics, and the subsequent emergence of the feminist movement within and outside of the artworld. In turn, the author examines how Trockel's art negotiates gender in similarly complex terms, impacting ongoing debates around her work's political allegiances and its potential ambiguities.