Claudia Schmacke, German, born 1963; stills from Umbilicus, 2006; DVD projection; © Claudia Schmacke; Images courtesy the artist

 
Berlin-based artist Claudia Schmacke works with sculptural installation and new media to explore questions of temporality and perception. She was trained in sculpture at the prestigious Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where she is now on the faculty, and her current work builds on her training in that field. Her Currents exhibition includes a gallery installation, Time Reel, and two videos in the Museum's New Media Gallery. Time Reel features one of her signature works—long, looping tubes filled with green-colored water that moves through them powered by concealed pumps. Schmacke's two videos are Umbilicus, which she created during a residency at the Casa di Goethe in Rome in 2006 and Dark Matter, which results from her recent travels to Los Angeles, where she studied and filmed the La Brea Tar Pits, an active paleontological site. Dark Matters premieres at the Saint Louis Art Museum.

Generous support for Currents 103: Claudia Schmacke is provided by the Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Endowment Fund, established to support the exhibition and acquisition of contemporary art at the Saint Louis Art Museum and the teaching principles of contemporary art in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. Schmacke is the 2008–2009 Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Fellow. The New Media Series features installations by living artists, whose work utilizes digital media, engaging the audience through both film and sound. Curated by Charlotte Eyerman, curator of modern and contemporary art, Currents 103: Claudia Schmacke, will be on view in Galleries 301 and 337.