„BILDER IM KOPF, KÖRPER IM RAUM“ – FRANZ ERHARD WALTHER

In the organizer's words:

In the early 1960s, Franz Erhard Walther formulated a new concept of work - in the context of minimalism and beyond the classical understanding of sculpture and painting - that included the viewer as an actor: His First Set of Works (1963-1969), consisting of 58 activatable elements, is legendary. The artist thus demonstrates his understanding of a sculpture and understands the executed "action as a work form": Gestures and actions become an essential part of the work.

In his works, he achieves an incomparable interweaving of painting, sculpture and architecture and has become one of the most important and influential artists in Germany - not least thanks to his many years as a professor at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts. In 2017, he was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale for his work. Due to the continuing topicality and relevance for contemporary art and in honor of his 85th birthday, the Bundeskunsthalle is showing an overview exhibition of the conceptual artist's work.

The exhibition presents a concentrated, representative selection of action-based works as well as drawings "as an interior view" from various periods. It is designed to be open and dialogical and shows Walther's art as unfinished and corresponding with the imaginations and actions of the visitors - the "images in the head" and subsequently "bodies in space" are created.

A large activation area in the center of the exhibition provides the opportunity to transfer selected exhibition copies into action; the works can be put on or put over, for example. Through the interaction between body and object, everyone becomes part of the artwork. The performers create their own narratives and the work is in a constant state of change: Work, body, place and space merge in an unusual way to form a unity that generates new experiences in dealing with art and oneself.

The exhibition is a cooperation between the Bundeskunsthalle and the Franz Erhard Walther Foundation.

Parallel to the exhibition, a video selection of historical performances and screenings by artists who worked during Franz Erhard Walther's stay in New York (1967-1973) will be shown in the media art room on the lower floor. Works by Merce Cunnigham, Yvonne Rainer, Trisha Brown, Carolee Schneemann and others visualize the innovative expressive will of many artists of the time to bring body, movement, action and space into a narrative.

Price information:

Free admission up to and including 18 years, with free ELLAH Card* for pupils, students and trainees up to 25 years. Day ticket for all exhibitions: €13/erm. €6.50 Happy hour ticket (2 hours before closing time): €7 for all exhibitions Free admission for refugees.