Charlotte Posenenske – The Series E of Drehflügel

With Series E, created in 1967/68, Charlotte Posenenske developed a body of work that condensed her core artistic concerns: variability, participation, and the transgression of traditional boundaries of art. The revolving vane objects are not autonomous sculptures in the classical sense, but open systems that continually assume new forms through the movement of viewers. At the same time, they represent the last series of work she created before her radical withdrawal from the art world in 1968, when she turned to sociology and the study of social processes.

The Große Drehflügel consists of six door-sized aluminum panels, spray-painted in grey and mounted in a triangular frame. It can be closed to form an upright prism, or opened to create passages, thresholds, and varying spatial constellations. Thus, Posenenske bridges sculpture and architecture: the human body enters into direct relation with the object, which simultaneously defines and permeates space. In turning the vanes, the formerly passive spectator becomes an active participant – a central principle of her work.

The Kleine Drehflügel, a cube of 100 cm edge length, remains closer to the realm of sculpture, as its proportions still reference the metric system. Yet here too the public intervenes, rotating the walls and thereby altering the object’s appearance. Posenenske shifts emphasis from aesthetic contemplation to performative action: the work is never complete but always open to change.

A particular role is played by the Drehflügel made of chipboard, her last realised piece. Constructed as a two-meter-high cube, it points to architecture but also to everyday life: chipboard, an industrial material, breaks with the idea of precious, “high” art. The object can be fully closed or completely opened, generating different spatial experiences while also producing social situations. Visitors may find themselves confronting one another, negotiating space, or entering into conversation. In this way, art becomes a social arena.

Art historically, Posenenske’s Series E connects to Minimal Art of the 1960s, which employed industrial materials, seriality, and reduction. Yet while artists such as Donald Judd or Carl Andre primarily explored the relation between object, space, and viewer on a conceptual level, Posenenske radicalised the notion of participation. Her works demand physical engagement, invite transformation, and refuse definitive form. In doing so, she blurs the boundary between art and everyday life – and simultaneously breaks the museum taboo of untouchable art.

Series E must also be understood within the political climate of the late 1960s. Concepts such as “variability” and “participation” were not only artistic strategies but also key slogans of the student and protest movements of the era. Posenenske’s works echo this social momentum, setting rigid structures in motion, dissolving hierarchies between artist and audience, and framing art as a collective, open-ended process.

The Drehflügel of Series E thus mark both a culmination and a conclusion in Posenenske’s artistic career. They expand sculpture into architecture and social space, combining aesthetic reduction with political urgency. Viewed in the light of her subsequent withdrawal from the art system, they appear not only as a radical extension of sculpture but also as a prescient anticipation of her break with the art world itself.

Today, Series E ranks among Charlotte Posenenske’s most significant bodies of work internationally. It has been exhibited at the Museum Ludwig (Cologne), Dia Art Foundation (New York), Tate Modern (London), Kröller-Müller Museum (Otterlo), MACBA (Barcelona), and Haugar Art Museum (Norway). In 2026 it will also be shown at the Centre Pompidou, Kanal (Brussels). Prototypes from 1969 are held by the Museum Ludwig and the Art Institute of Chicago. Currently, one revolving vane is on view at the Kunsthalle Lingen, and from 6 September to 1 November 2025, the series will be presented at the Galerie Mehdi Chouakri in the Wilhelm Hallen, Berlin.