‘There’s a kind of magic to her work’: Maren Hassinger’s one-of-a-kind sculptures

Maren Hassinger, documentation of performance Tree Duet I, 1974 Photograph: Courtesy of Susan Inglett Gallery, NYC. Photo: Adam Avila

For 50 years, the American artist Maren Hassinger has created fascinating site-specific sculptures out of the simplest of actions: tying a square knot, twisting metal into organic shapes, blowing breath into a plastic bag, walking through a room. With Maren Hassinger: Living Moving Growing, the Berkeley Art Museum (BAMPFA) offers a suitably comprehensive, yet ephemeral retrospective, recreating her most celebrated works, documenting her many performances, and even bringing audiences into the fun.

“There’s a kind of magic to her work,” said the BAMPFA senior curator Anthony Graham, “the way she’s able to transform materials and really change the space that those things inhabit, to make us see them in a new way.”