Iris Häussler facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Iris Haeussler
Haeussler in one of the rooms of her installation "The Legacy of Joseph Wagenbach" (2006)
Born	(1962-04-06)6 April 1962 Friedrichshafen, Germany
Education	Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (Heribert Sturm)
Known for	Conceptual artist, installation artist
Notable work	ou topos – Wien (1989), Pro Polis (1993), The Legacy of Joseph Wagenbach (2006), The Sophie La Rosière Project (2016), Florence Hasard (2018)

Iris Haeussler (born April 6, 1962) is a German-born artist who creates unique art experiences. She is known for her conceptual art and installation art. Conceptual art focuses on the idea behind the artwork, while installation art creates an entire environment or space for people to experience.

Iris Haeussler now lives in Toronto, Canada. Many of her artworks are very detailed and look incredibly real. Visitors can explore them like they are walking into a story. Her art often explores themes like family, memories, history, and how people connect to places.

The Artist's Journey

Iris Haeussler studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich in Germany. Her studies focused on hands-on studio work, encouraging her to explore and experiment with different art forms. She was inspired by artists like Medardo Rosso.

She received several important awards and scholarships, including one from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation. In 1999, she was a guest professor at the Munich Academy, teaching other art students. Before moving to Toronto in 2001, Haeussler showed her art all over Europe.

Even though she trained as a sculptor and conceptual artist, her work is hard to put into one box. She has created drawings, sculptures, and even interactive pieces where people can get involved. But her most famous works are large, immersive installations. These are art pieces that you can walk into and feel like you are part of them. One expert, Mark Kingwell, called her work "haptic conceptual art." This means it's art about ideas that you experience by being completely surrounded by it.

Immersive Art Worlds

Iris Haeussler is famous for her "hyper-real" installations. These are like walking into a movie set or a very detailed diorama. She creates living spaces for made-up characters who live lives somewhere between being obsessed and being artists.

Haeussler calls these major installations "Synthetic Memories." She sees "synthetic" as meaning she builds these memories from research, ideas, and her studio work. These projects often take years to create. They feel so real because she pays incredible attention to every tiny detail, making them look like actual places. They are also always "off-site," meaning they are not usually shown in regular art galleries.

At first, she tried to make her art seem like it wasn't art at all. She created environments that looked like they were built and then left behind by people who were obsessed with something. Later, she started including the process of her research and staging in the final art display.

• Ou Topos – Vienna (1989): This was one of her first apartment installations. She recreated the home of an elderly man in a social housing building in Vienna, Austria. The most striking part was the bedroom, filled with thousands of tin cans of preserved food. Each can was wrapped in thick lead foil and labeled with its expiry date. Visitors could explore the space on their own. Haeussler actually lived in the apartment for six months to make the experience feel truly real.

• Pro Polis (1993): For this project, Haeussler transformed a hotel room in Milan, Italy. She covered the walls, floor, window, and everything in the room with a thick layer of wax. Visitors got the key from the hotel reception and could explore the waxy room by themselves.

• Monopati (2000): This project involved two apartments in two different German cities, Munich and Berlin. Each apartment told a different story, but they were connected by one old school class photograph from the late 1930s, which could be seen in both places. Visitors could pick up the keys at nearby art galleries and explore the apartments on their own.

• The Legacy of Joseph Wagenbach (2006): This was a huge and complex installation in an entire house in downtown Toronto. It told the life story of an old, reclusive artist named Joseph Wagenbach. An "archivist" (often Haeussler herself) was on site to help visitors understand the story. At first, the project was presented as a real assessment by the "Municipal Archives," not as an artwork. Haeussler wanted people to discover the story without knowing it was art.

This caused some debate because people felt tricked when they found out the story was fictional. Canada's National Post newspaper even ran a headline saying, "Reclusive downtown artist a hoax." But many people, including writer Mark Kingwell, explained that the surprise was a key part of the artwork. Novelist Martha Baillie, who visited the installation, felt angry at first, but later realized that the Joseph Wagenbach she had imagined was real to her, even if he wasn't a real person.

• The Joseph Wagenbach Foundation (2015): This is a long-term project that continues the story of Joseph Wagenbach. It's a made-up foundation for a made-up artist, but the artworks it presents are real. The foundation offers small bronze sculptures and drawings to the public. Haeussler says, "the Joseph Wagenbach Foundation is a fictitious foundation of a fictitious artist, but his works are real."

• He Named Her Amber (2008–2010): This installation was at The Grange in Toronto. Haeussler created the character of Amber, a 19th-century Irish maid who secretly lived a passionate life. A fake company called Anthropological Services Ontario (also created by Haeussler) pretended to dig up Amber's personal items. These items were hidden in beeswax under the floorboards of the mansion. Guided tours showed visitors these "discoveries." This project also sparked debate because it was first presented as a historical excavation, not an art piece.

• He Dreamed Overtime: All Our Relations (2012): For this project at the 18th Biennale of Sydney, Haeussler created the story of a former park ranger. He was sad about a lost love and created strange, coral-like objects out of beeswax. The story then describes an investigation by a pest-control company. The company's manager becomes so fascinated that he starts recreating the ranger's work and even creates a blog about it.

• Ou Topos – Abandoned Trailer Project (2012): This art piece was created for "Nuit Blanche" (White Night festivals) in Toronto. Haeussler revisited her very first "Ou Topos" installation. She invented a grandson of the original character, a young survivalist who was researching nuclear fallout. He secretly set up his belongings and a lab-like trailer in an underground garage of the Toronto city hall.

• Sophie La Rosière Project (2016–2022): This project presented the life and work of a made-up French female artist from the early 20th century, Sophie La Rosière. It was shown in chapters. Chapter I showed her biography and a recreation of her art studio. Chapter II looked at her artworks using X-ray analysis and included video interviews with experts discussing if her work was real. Chapter III simply showed her artworks. The story of Sophie La Rosière was closely linked to real artists of that time.

• Florence Hasard (2017–2022): This project is an extension of the Sophie La Rosière project. It tells the life story of another made-up character, Florence Hasard, who was Sophie's lover. This story travels from France to the United States and explores Florence's own art and the complex relationship between the two women. Exhibitions for this project have been held in various locations, including the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and the Armory Show in New York.

Other Notable Artworks

"Archivio" – shelf, on the third day of the project

Iris Haeussler also creates other types of art that are not always about fictional characters.

• Archivio (1991): For this project, Haeussler took daily newspaper cuttings from around the world and encased them in hundreds of thin slabs of wax. She then arranged them on steel shelves. Visitors could look through the wax slabs, move them around, and even break some. Over time, the organized archive turned into a collection of disorder. Haeussler often uses wax in her art, for example, to encase children's clothes or gauze curtains, making them look like ethereal paintings.

• Paidi (1994): This gallery show featured over 200 passport-sized images of babies from 1905 to the present day. Next to them were 280 samples of mother's milk that the artist had collected. The installation explored how where you live, your social background, and history shape a person's life from the very beginning.

• Leihgaben (1995: On Loan): For this project, Haeussler collected laundry, pillowcases, and bed sheets from places like an orphanage, a hospital, and a prison. She temporarily removed them from their usual use. One person from a nursing home was very proud that their nightgown was shown in an exhibition. This shows how her art often involves people's personal stories.

"On Loan" – Installation view

• Xenotope (1994, 1997, 1998, 2000): This was a series of projects that offered temporary overnight accommodation. The first "Xenotop" in Leipzig was a simple room with a bed, desk, TV, towels, and bottled water, all painted in a uniform light-grey. Visitors could register at the gallery and get the key to spend one night there, without any further instructions or observation. The idea was to experience the "emptiness" of the space.

• Repla©e (1997): For this project, Haeussler sent a non-artist in her place to an art event in Stockholm. This scientist filled a large studio with scientific drawings on chalkboards. This created a lot of discussion because it made people realize how much the acceptance of an artwork depends on knowing who the artist is.

• Honest Threads (2009): This installation was in a unique department store in Toronto called Honest Ed's. It featured a lush showroom with framed photographs and very personal stories about clothes, contributed by people from Toronto. Visitors could borrow the clothes and wear them for a few days. This allowed them to literally and psychologically "walk in someone else's shoes."

• Bonavista Biennale (2017): For this exhibition in Newfoundland, Haeussler showed "Dust at Dawn." This piece consisted of large sheets of mylar (a type of plastic film) with double-sided tape. The tape held dust collected from cracks, door and window frames, lint from carpets, and dead flies from the floors of an old house in the area.

Fictional Organizations

Sometimes, Iris Haeussler creates made-up organizations or companies as part of her art projects. These fictional groups act as investigators or presenters of the "discoveries" before the public realizes they are artworks.

• The Municipal Archives, Toronto
• The Anthropological Services Ontario
• Pest Control Sydney
• The Joseph Wagenbach Foundation

See also

• Conceptual art
• Installation art
• Superfiction