Tobias Rehberger

Tobias Rehberger (b.1966, Esslingen, Germany, based in Berlin and Frankfurt, Germany) creates situations that disrupt our perception of everyday objects and their functions, restructuring the way we relate to them. Rooted in the conceptual framework of sculpture, Rehberger’s works across the realms of art, architecture and design to question our relationship with consumption in an age of mass commodification.

Widely considered one of the most influential German artists of his generation, Rehberger has produced towering sculptures, op art paintings, industrial objects and interactive installations, among others, to create new contexts and viewing experiences. Whatever you love, will bring you to wines (2006) saw the artist meticulously transforming the former Italian pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale into a fully functional cafeteria, for which he was awarded the prestigious Golden Lion. Drawing from the “dazzle camouflage” tactic used in World War I where ships were painted with optically distortional black-and-white graphics, the work immersed visitors in a disorienting interior filled with geometrically patterned surfaces, mirrors and custom-built furniture.

Rehberger received his art education at The Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main (1987–1992). His works are held in major collections including the Centre Pompidou, Paris; Hamburger Kunsthalle; Kunsthalle Mannheim; Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg; Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Städel Museum, Frankfurt; ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Art, Rome; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington; and Museum of Contemporary Art Busan.

Notable recent solo exhibitions include Wherever you begin that's where I start. Wherever I begin that's where you are (2023), YUELAI Art Museum, Chongqing; I do if I don’t (2022), Kunstmuseum Stuttgart; If you don’t use your eyes to see, you will use them to cry (2019), Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai; Inspiration is a little town in China (2019), Haus am Waldsee, Berlin; Yourself is sometimes a place to call your own (2018), Museum of Contemporary Art Busan; and Home and Away and Outside (2014), Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. The artist has also participated in major international festivals including ROUNDTABLE (2012), 9th Gwangju Biennale; Making Worlds (2009), 53rd Venice Biennale; HyperDesign (2006), 6th Shanghai Biennale; Chasm (2004), 2nd Busan Biennale; Micro-Utopias (2003), 1st Valencia Biennale; Dreams and Conflicts (2003), 50th Venice Biennale; The Sky is the Limit (2000), 5th Taipei Biennial; Manifesta 2 (1998), European Biennial for Contemporary Art, Luxembourg; and Future, Present, Past (1997), 47th Venice Biennale.

Rehberger has had two residencies at the STPI Workshop in 2015 and 2024, culminating in two group exhibitions—Exquisite Trust (Blindly Collective Collaborations) (2017) with artists Carston Höller, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Anri Sala, and New Releases, Old Friends (2025) with artists Angela Bulloch, Richard Deacon, Janice Kerbel and Pae White.