Start With Art

The committee of artists and staff of Künstlerhaus Göttingen presents the annual program 2023 of activities and exhibitions. This year, the Künstlerhaus hopes to involve more regional, national and international artists, working in a variety of genres and, thereby, attract more people of all generations and backgrounds.

By Hanna Vasilevich

Picture: Hanna Vasilevich

Since 1976, the Künstlerhaus Göttingen has been located in a historical three-floor building in the heart of Göttingen. It consists of an art gallery as well as an atelier for artists from the associations Kreis 34, BBK (Bund Bildender Künstler) Southern Lower Saxony and others. In order to promote and support cultural life, Künstlerhaus organizes a variety of events throughout the year, including workshops for children and adults, free tours, reading sessions and art related events adjacent to film, music, theatre and sculpture. The artists’ association Kreis 34 launched a premiere series of workshops called »Blick auf dem Hof« in the summer of 2022, with Anna Tarach serving as chair. The events for the coming year will take place in four locations of the gallery allowing to present paintings of various formats as well as mixed media products (installations, objects and photographs). A variety of art exhibitions, as well as a series of workshops, will be offered in 2023. Artists will be invited not only from Göttingen, but also from Leipzig and Berlin.

Discovering Art from Leipzig and Berlin

Under various concepts and approaches, the artists Maja Behrmann and Paul Wilting, Christine and Wolfram Ebersbach, Gudrun Petersdorff and Tino Geiss and Johannes Rochhausen, graduates of the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig, are exhibiting their artworks. »Archipel« by Maja Behrmann and Paul Wilting is an experiment with forms, objects and materials (linen yarn, fabric). By combining diverse materials, the artists create several-dimensional pieces. Paul Wilting, on the other hand, searches for the world beyond, using semi-abstract pieces of everyday life – plastic plates, cupboards etc. to defamiliarize and fictionalize them.

Christine Ebersbach employs wood print as a primary technique to create strict forms and precise surfaces. The inspiration comes from the inner self and manifests in the forms of landscape. For Wolfram Ebersbach, a familiar city serves as a creative area where he is a chronicler. The idea is to work out a structure for the artist’s favourite city interiors and to reduce them to a sign-like spatial abbreviation. A city is a collection of historical structures, trade fairs and inner yards that give the city its distinct identity.

Gudrun Petersdorff depicts an image of this world with dots, lines, circuits, structures which are hidden and cannot be revealed by first glance. When one looks closer, the reality changes and brings up food for thought. Even though reality is framed, it opens large-scale ways of picture arrangement. »A picture is a picture«, believes Tino Geiss. When one looks at a painting they see the outcome, the final product which conveys the messages and ideas. But how did the artist come to this conclusion? What makes a painting a painting? Tino Geiss is convinced that there is a long way to this outcome with all its concerns, attempts and hesitations. Thus, in his works, the emphasis is placed not on an image of human as the ultimate product, but on the image of something that is left behind them – their legacy.

Painting utensils, pieces of furniture and plants are the subject matter in Johannes Richhausen’s still life and oil paintings. Why? To create and transfer the feeling of here-and-now that corresponds to the reality (the time we live and the space we inhabit) and to establish space-subject relationship.

 »I draw with a brush, paint over with chalks and opaque colours, wipe everything away again«, says Klaus Vogelgesang in the program booklet, an artist from Berlin. He experiments with rather unusual forms and colors such as fluorescence and luminescence. As a member of the critic realists’ community, the artist shifted his focus from outer reality to his own inner world. The original stage space is transformed into an imaginary stage that is timeless and placeless. The artist draws, erases and draws again until it satisfies the desired; all the traces are left and represent a »Schmutzfilm«.

Making and Exhibiting Art with the Göttingen Artists’ Circle

A significant part of the exhibitions is going to be held by the artists and artists’ associations from Göttingen. Dieter Richter is presenting a mixed media exhibition. The original representation of the exhibition as »Wunderkammer« attracts with its luxurious and diverse items, but, in fact, they are tiny flea market finds and finds from nature which become exhibits.

The exhibition under the title »The Gentle Brutality of Simultaneity« by Mariana Vassileva highlights the problem of ambivalence of human nature, its opposition between reason and sense through a combination of light installation and photography. Mind, emotion and empathy are combined in multimedia exhibits: standing face-to-face, human nature will find harmony. Matthias Walliser exhibits his work in painting, film and object installations. The artist believes painting comes spontaneously, without thinking or following any rules. The title of the exhibition, »Zerstör it with a smile«, refers to reaching a state of aimlessness, destroying and at the same time recreating.

Christel Irmscher gives new features and new presence of color by pairing and superimposition of ornaments, signs and chippers. Behind every new phenomenon in this world, there is a common structure. Referring to Author Schopenhauer, the artist believes that behind all new masks and faces that humanity can wear, there is the same existential drama. Irmscher is aiming to convey it through the combination of colors and its smooth transition which result in »Concatenation«.

In addition to the collective and individual exhibitions, the artist association Kreis 34 is going to hold a series of art workshops in August 2023 which are open for any kind of audience (children, youth and adults) regardless of their skill level. A project has already succeeded in summer of 2022: there was a first attempt to engage audience with art and artists. Over a hundred of people took part in around fifteen workshops on drawing, sculpture, sketching, painting, printing and music events.

The Künstlerhaus completes its program with two large-scale annual exhibitions by Kreis 34 and BBK. According to the program, the first exhibition by Dieter Richter has already begun and will run until February 19. The intense 2023 program covers a diverse spectrum of artists working in various genres and concepts and allows artists to engage with the audience through their creations.