Representations of the Potentiated Void
Contemporary Artistic Examinations of Forced Absences and Disrupted Presences
Abstract
This paper analyses contemporary artistic practices dealing with specific forms of void caused by National Socialist ‘Aryanizations’. By employing the methodological approaches of Rudolf Arnheim’s ‘visual gaps’ and Ulrike Lehmann’s ‘aesthetics of absence’ and combining them with the concept of ‘potentiated void’ – introduced here to grasp the absence of ‘Aryanized’ objects, their owners and contexts – the two artistic projects REKONSTRUKTION DER ROTHSCHILD’SCHEN GEMÄLDESAMMLUNG (2013) by Anna Artaker and Invent arisiert (2000) by Arno Gisinger can be investigated as strategies of dealing with forced void and of making the lost visible (again).
Submitted: Oct. 15, 2025 | Published Dec. 15, 2025 | Language: en
Keywords (Post) Conceptual Art and Institutional Critique • Absence and void • National socialism • Absence and Void • National Socialism • Restitution • (Post-)conceptual art and institutional critique • ‘Aryanizations’
Copyright © 2025 Veronika Rudorfer. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.