Sarah Schönfeld German, b. 1979
Sarah Ancelle Schönfeld is an artist whose practice moves between scientific inquiry, ritual, mythology, and contemporary cultural analysis. With a humorous yet incisive approach, she investigates how knowledge, truth, and belief systems are constructed, transmitted, and transformed. Her work frequently revisits so-called folk wisdoms, alchemical traditions, and pseudo-scientific methods, questioning how these older epistemologies circulate within modern technological societies.
Schönfeld’s artistic “laboratories” take shape in a wide range of media, including installations, performances, sculptures, self-built instruments, photography, and collage. These modular environments often stage controlled experiments—chemical, conceptual, or participatory—inviting viewers to reflect on the porous boundaries between empirical science and intuitive or mystical forms of knowing. Many of her works draw on substances, processes, and energies that remain elusive or unstable, highlighting the fragility and subjectivity inherent in any truth-producing system.
Her recent exhibitions include presentations in the Sammlung Boros / Berghain and at the Museum für angewandte Kunst (MAK), Vienna, where her work engaged with the museum’s historical narratives of material culture and design. Schönfeld has also realized interdisciplinary collaborations with scientists, anthropologists, and performers, extending her inquiry into fields such as chemistry, biology, and alternative medicine.
Schönfeld’s work is included in several private and public collections, and she has been recognized with international commissions. Most recently, the New Mexico State University commissioned her to produce a permanent public sculpture, expanding her engagement with site-specific and context-responsive practices.
