Rosemarie Trockel (B.1952, Schwerte) is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential conceptual artists in Germany. Her sculptures, collages, ceramics, knitted works, drawings and photographs are noted for their subtle social critique and range of subversive, aesthetic strategies—including the reinterpretation of “feminine” techniques, the ironic shifting of cultural codes, a delight in paradox, and a refusal to conform to the commercial and institutional ideologies of the art system. In these works, Trockel investigates both contemporary and historical discourses concerning artistic and social identity. Her feminist perspective challenges the concept of the male artistic genius and formulates an emphatic criticism both of the art world and of restrictive social norms with regard to social and sexual identity.

Her first exhibitions took place at the galleries Monika Sprüth Cologne and Philomene Magers Bonn, both in 1983. Recent solo shows include Moderna Museet Malmö (2018/19), Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli in Torino (2016), Kunsthaus Bregenz (2015), travelling exhibition at Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, at the New Museum, New York and Serpentine Gallery, London (2012/2013) and Wiels Brussels, Culturegest Lisboa, Lisbon and Museion Bozen, Bolzano (2012/2013). Her 2005 retrospective PostMenopause took place at the Museum Ludwig Köln, Cologne and at MAXXI, Rome. In 1999 she became the first female artist to represent Germany at the Venice Biennial, and in 1997 she took part in the Documenta X at Kassel.