b. 1952 in Luxembourg
Theis currently lives and works in Milan, Italy. He is part of a generation of artists who articulated operative strategies in the public space, anchoring them to social contexts and relational modalities, while retaining the status of their production as art. Theis challenges the conventional artist-viewer relationship by producing art works in which the audience’s use of the work outweighs the conceptual structure of the piece. In recent years, Theis has been engaged in a creative organisational role with the Isola Art Center and OUT [the Office for Urban Transformation], Milano, where the exploration of contemporary art and its contribution to daily life has been of critical importance.
For the 46th Venice Biennale in 1995 Theis created Potemkin Lock, a temporary national pavilion for Luxembourg, where the public were given the opportunity to ‘take a break’ on reclining chairs. In 'Sculpture Projects,' Münster 1997, he installed a wooden platform titled Platform for Philosophical Discussion, recalling the temple floor of Raphael’s The School of Athens. The platform was used by local residents and visitors in various ways, from hosting birthday parties, to university lectures, skating races, theatrical presentations, and jazz concerts. Another work, It’s Hard Work to Be Idle, 2002, offered a similar form of open-platform, but this time as a more contemplative zone, with palm trees and sand - a kind of architectural forepart placed above the entrance of the Gwangju Biennale.
Theis has recently participated in the 10th International Istanbul Biennial with Isola and , Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, 2007; and in exhibitions at MUDAM, Luxembourg, 2006; Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, 2005.