Dieter Roth (1930-1998)

Born 1930 in Hannover, to German-Swiss parents. School in Zürich from 1943 onwards. 1947-1951 training at the Berner Kunstgewerbeschule, in graphics and lithography. During this period first contacts with other artists like Daniel Spoerri, Marcel Wyss and Franz Eggenschwiler.
Co-founder and - editor of the journal "Spirale" (1953-) which specialises on literature, theoretical texts and Druckgraphik. Works as designer and ad graphics Werbegestalter in Basel, Bern, Kopenhagen, and New York. 1957 Roth moves to Iceland.
His work in the 50s is characterised as "constructive". An exhibition of Jean Tinguely 1960 in Basel deeply impressed Roth and lead to a change in his approach. Representative for this period of change are the two works "14 Zeitungs-Illustrationen" (1963/64) and the first "Literaturwurst" (1961). During this period Roth creates a large number of book objects in which newspapers are integrated as material.
For the work following thereafter, found materials are essential. In 1974 Roth creates a "Literaturwurst" out of the 20 volumes oeuvre of G.W.F. Hegel. He increasingly turns to organic materials, such as spices, fruit, chocolate and sausages, which he encloses in plexiglas or plastic foil and leaves to rot.
The medium of the book is inseparably connected with Dieter Roth. His first "Kinderbuch" appears in 1957. In 1971, he edits his collected works together with the Edition Hansjörg Mayer. Roth is co-founder of several publishing companies, such as Dieter Roth's Verlag, Taucher Verlag, Wasserpresse, Regenverlag. In the late 70s/early 80s, he produces copied diaries, using notebooks from the 60s.
In the 80s, Roth takes on a more documentary approach; also, his works expand into space. His installations are arbitrary collections of objects; often they stand in his atelier for years and are constantly changed.
Dieter Roth died June 5, 1998, from heart failure, in Basel.

Þó Dieter hafi haft sína grunnmenntun sem auglýsingateiknari frá grafíska skólanum í Bern í Sviss, þá var allt hans líf ( eins og hjá mörgum) einskonar menntunarferli. Hann ferðaðist um, setti sig niður á mismunandi stöðum í mismunandi löndum, komst í sambönd við fólk sem aðhylltist mismunandi strauma og stefnur, ekki síður handverksmenn en listamenn og vann með þeim.
Dieter Roth Akademían saman stendur af þessu sama fólki ( þeim sem enn eru á lífi) og má kalla “prófessora” akademíunar. Nemendur geta ferðast og hitt þetta fólk í lengri eða skemmri tíma og unnið með því eða ekki.
Akademían er ekki stofnun og hefur engan rekstur og enga skriffinnsku. Það má kalla það fyrstu lexíuna í akademíunni að alla skipulagningu og pappírsvinnu sem fylgir því að komast í samband við prófessorana víða um heim verða nemendur að sjá um sjálfir.
Nemendur fá eingöngu hjálp hjá hverjum og einstökum prófessor, sem þeir mögulega komast í samband við. Það er að hver og einstakur prófessor getur mælt með nemanda sem þá að sjálfsögðu aðrir prófessorar taka gildan.

Heimilisfang akademíunnar er Skaftfell á Seyðisfirði.
Prófessorar akademíunnar eru eftirtaldir:
Eggert Einarsson - Reykjavík
Kristján Guðmundsson - Reykjavík
Sigurður Guðmundsson - China
Gunnar Helgason - Reykjavík
Dorothy Iannone - Berlin
Bernd Koberling - Berlin
Pétur Kristjánsson - Seyðisfjörður
Rainer und Agnes Pretzell - Abaliget
Björn Roth - Basel
Andrea Tippel - Berlin
Rúna Thorkelsdóttir - Amsterdam
Henriëtte van Egten - Amsterdam
Jan Voss - Amsterdam
Tom Wasmuth – New Mexico