A Pioneer of Field Research into Bodies and Spatial Relations. Pia Stadtb umer (b. M nster, 1959; lives and works in D sseldorf) isa leading exponent of the rediscovery of the human figure insculpture. Like fellow artists such as Katharina Fritsch, PaulMcCarthy, Thomas Sch tte, and Kiki Smith, she rose to renown inthe 1980s with now-canonical works that pursued a probingexamination and exposition of the representation of the body in arapidly changing contemporary world. In Stadtb umer's early oeuvre, the focus is on the engagement with bodies in sculptures andinstallations--the proportions, demeanor, and modelling of theprotagonists of her compositions are spare, restricted to thetraditional role models of man, woman, and child. Anonymous andexchangeable, they become active protagonists in the exhibitionspace only by virtue of their unconventional gestures. Over the years, the artist has allowed other irritations to inform her sculptures, intervening into the physicality of her figures: outsize hanging arms, fragile hermaphrodites standing before the viewer, periwigs andattires molded after models from the Rococo. Defying the apocalypticdiscourse of the post-human, Stadtb umer's sculptural gesturesevince organically unfolding and inventive variations on the nature ofman.The indispensable monograph offers a synopsis of three decades inStadtb umer's career (1989-2019) and illustrates her equallyconceptual and intuitive approach. With a survey of her oeuvre byJulian Heynen and essays by Prof. Beate S ntgen and Ariadne vonSchirach.