pp.160 Illustrated #0416 Robert Smithson Jochen Gerz Jochen Gerz (born 4 April 1940 in Berlin, Germany) is a German conceptual artist who has spent most of his life in France (1966 to 2007). His work involves the relationship between art and life, history and memory, and deals with concepts such as culture, society, public space, participation and public authorship. After beginning his career in the literary field, Gerz has in the meantime explored various artistic disciplines and diverse media. Whether he works with text, photography, video, artist books, installation, performance, or on public authorship pieces and processes, at the heart of Gerz’s practice is the search for an art form that can contribute to the res publica and to democracy. Jochen Gerz has been living in Ireland (Co. Kerry) since 2007.