Sandra Peters studied at the , the , and at the , where she became a Meisterschülerin in 2004. She was visiting professor at the , CA in 1999–2000 and at , Valencia, CA, in 2011 and 2012. She has taught at since 2014. Peters, who was born in Bonn, now lives and works in Abu Dhabi.
Work
Sandra Peters makes art that engages the architecture of the specific exhibition site in a contrapuntal dialogue, unlocking experiences that call in question preconceived beliefs and entrenched habits of seeing, hearing, and being and moving in a space. Her sculptures pick up on historic sculptural and architectonic paradigms, which she modifies and places in constellations such that the presence of the works is interwoven with glimpses of past cultural formations. Addressing the beholder's bodily reality, her art sustains a situated experience, while also charting fields of associations that have bearing on his or her position, actual as much as imagined, in the world. Peters pursues these concerns both in sculpture strictly conceived and in a range of other media, exploring a variety of formats. In 2009–2012, Peters undertook extensive studies into the oeuvre of Rudolph Schindler, an endeavor that bore fruit in a number of works that take inspiration from the architect’s buildings. In 2013, she began to probe various questions that had arisen during her work on these projects. With the sculpture Interface No. 1, realized in 2012, she embarked on a multifaceted investigation of the form of the cube as such. A little later, she gathered initial ideas for a translation of Interface No. 1 into acoustic structures that the audience would experience in an installation with the title SonicCube. In the course of her examination of the form of the cube, Peters has devoted particular attention to its eleven nets, permutations that served as the point of departure for the sculptures Pandora’s Box and Untitled . Works such as Tango and Zabriskie Point have a basis in architecture, while also reflecting specific cultural or historic contexts. They are conceived as situations to which the viewer is encouraged to relate by contemplating or moving around them. Both works are composed of different elements whose arrangement in the space conveys an impression of a cohesive ensemble, addressing itself not just to the eye but also to the sense of touch and sensorimotor experience.
Solo Exhibitions
Pandora’s Box. The Arts Center Project Space, Abu Dhabi, 2016
Shelf Life. Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz, Berlin, 2012
Locating the Self. Kunstsaele Berlin, 2012
Erschaute Bauten: Architektur im Spiegel zeitgenössischer Kunstfotografie/Envisioning Buildings: Reflecting Architecture in Contemporary Art Photography. MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art, Vienna, 2012
Genzmer, Synne. “PER/TRANS: Performing the Cube, Transforming the Cube, Works by Sandra Peters 1989–2017”, Eikon, no. 104, November 2018, 91
Meyer-Hermann, Eva. “Räumliches Denken: Zum Werk von Sandra Peters/Spatial Thinking: On the Work of Sandra Peters.” Newsletter Curatorforartists, April 2018
Peters, Sandra. “Proposals: Sandra Peters, north kings road // intricate structure.” in Schindler Lab, www.schindlerlab.org, ed. Anthony Carfello, Sara Daleiden, and Kimberli Meyer. Los Angeles: MAK Center for Art and Architecture, 2015
McGovern, Fiona. “Transferleistung: Sandra Peters in den Kunstsaelen Berlin.” Texte zur Kunst, March 2012, 198–201