Site Artist

Outside the frame: Hoffman installed his artwork around corners and down hallways.

Mark Zupan

German-born Dutch artist Stefan Hoffmann was on campus in early February as a visiting artist sponsored by the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies. Hoffmann creates wall and window installations that employ a variety of screen-printing and painting techniques to create dynamic, bold images directly on walls or windows instead of paper or fabric. By printing within the confines of a particular architectural setting, he is able to increase the scale of his work and incorporate natural and ambient light sources, thus enabling him to design much larger, site-specific images. Hoffman also uses imagery he finds in his current location.

While at Duke, he worked on a hallway between the ground floor of Perkins and the Gothic Reading Room. He visited the library’s conservation room and used artistic elements from work by Theodor de Bry that was in the process of being restored.

Students were invited to assist Hoffmann throughout the weeklong installation process. He also collaborated with Bill Fick ’86, visiting assistant professor of the practice, and Merrill Shatzman, associate professor of the practice, meeting with students in introductory and capstone courses who are using a range of traditionally based and digital media techniques.