Frankfurter Kunstverein

The world of things seems to be dissolving. Due to digitalization, our living environment is rapidly becoming more and more immaterial—despite the unlimited amount of consumer items that we encounter on a daily basis. At the same time, it is possible to observe a growing interest in the lost and changing materiality of the world around us. Recently the cultural and social sciences announced a “material turn.” One is discovering the material aspects of knowledge production and social practices as well as the material aspects of communication processes and aesthetic production. Also in sculpture a reassessment of materials, things, and objects seems to be taking place. Bringing together unusual elements, artists are creating a new formal language, which produces a confrontation between the things as they are and the aesthetic of materials.

The exhibition On Being and Being-So. Sculpture, Object & Stage presents works by nine artists who use sculpture in a variety of ways. They combine additive and subtractive processes, readymades, and installation. Things and materials are cast, folded, glued, carved, and cut; they are combined with additional elements to underscore or minimize physical, symbolic, or narrative qualities. The exhibition unfolds as an exploration of the concepts of “sculpture,” “object,” and “stage.” Some works appear to viewers as a physical counterpart. Others consist of elements, whose former purpose is still recognizable. Nevertheless, the original function of the object is underscored. A third group of works take the form of spatial arrangements that can be entered, variables in a temporary situation in which inter-relationships play a primary role—with the viewer as a component of the work. All works in the exhibition On Being and Being-So. Sculpture, Object & Stage are characterized by an immediate quality. As technical or organic configurations, they convey a character, an expressiveness, and an immense presence, referring thereby to nothing beyond themselves.


Participating artists:

Maria Anisimowa (born 1984, lives in Offenbach)
Peter Buggenhout (born 1963, lives in Gent)
Sandra Havlicek (born 1984, lives in Frankfurt am Main)
Sofia Hultén (born 1972, lives in Berlin)
Sabine Kuehnle (born 1968, lives in Frankfurt am Main)
Thomas Moecker (born 1967, lives in Leipzig)
Simon Rübesamen (born 1976, lives in Leipzig)
Michael E. Smith (born 1977, lives in Detroit)
Andrea Winkler (born 1975, lives in Berlin)


Curators: Holger Kube Ventura, Lilian Engelmann (Frankfurter Kunstverein)