1st Bochum sculpture symposium
The 1st Bochum Sculpture Symposium was a sculpture symposium that was organized in Bochum in 1979/80 and was dedicated to metal sculpture.
Goals and reception
The symposium, organized by the city of Bochum and supported by the Bochum Museum, was initiated by museum director Peter Spielmann after Richard Serra's purchase of the sculpture Terminal by Richard Serra led to violent reactions from the population. The aim of the symposium, which had the motto City and Sculpture , was also to add a bit of urbanity to the living space of the industrial city through art accents, as well as to awaken an understanding of modern art among the population.
An expert jury invited nine international artists to the symposium in Bochum. The only requirement for the artists was that the material metal was specified for their work. The artists were free to choose the location of their sculpture in the public urban space . Each artist was also given a sponsorship company that provided them with a job, technical support and material free of charge - a modern form of patronage, so to speak. The project included the collaboration and close contact between artists and metal workers as well as the presentation of the work of art on site in front of a larger audience. A total of twenty Bochum companies were involved in the production and installation of the sculptures or supported the project with donations.
The works of art created in the symposium were "very controversial" in the Bochum public. Ingo Bartsch states: “The gap between the popular perception of art and its experimental manifestations is always deep.” Nevertheless, the works of art were eventually bought by the city of Bochum.
The works by Morellet, Szankowski and Trantenroth were later stored in the course of construction work, the remaining six works that were created during the symposium are still at their original location today.
Participating artists
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Abraham David Christian | ![]() |
Cornelius Kolig | ![]() |
Ivan Kozaric |
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François Morellet | ![]() |
Roman Signer | ![]() |
Giuseppe Spagnulo |
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Maciej Szankowski | ![]() |
AD Trantenroth | ![]() |
Aleš Veselý |
jury
The jury of the 1st Bochum Sculpture Symposium, which selected the artists to be invited, consisted of:
- Peter Baum , Head of the New Gallery of the City of Linz (Austria)
- Karl Prantl , sculptor, Pöttsching (Austria)
- Ryszard Stanislawski (1921–2000), Museum Director Łódź (Poland)
- Boris Kelemen , Museum Director Zagreb (Croatia)
- Schang Hutter , sculptor, Küttigkofen (Switzerland)
- Dr. Peter Spielmann , director of the Bochum Art Museum from 1972 to 1997. As a native of Czechoslovakia and a connoisseur of the Eastern European art scene, his contacts enabled him to take a look at the current art scene of the so-called "Eastern Bloc states" that was unique in the Federal Republic of that time.
The symposia of European sculptors in St. Margarethen (since 1959), the forum metall in Linz (1977) and the Czechoslovak symposia in Ostrau (1967, 1969) and Reichenberg (1969) served as models for the symposium .
literature
- Steel locations. Terminal by Richard Serra and nine works from the 1st Bochum Symposium on City and Sculpture 1979/80 . Brochure, City of Bochum Culture Office and Art Museum Bochum, 1987, text and compilation: Ingo Bartsch
- City and Sculpture , 1st Bochum Sculpture Symposium 1979/80. Organizer: City of Bochum, publisher Museum Bochum, 1981, editor: Ute Dreckmann
Web links
- 1. Bochum Symposium City and Sculpture 1979/80 - artibeau: art in bochum - free and outdoors
- SkulpTour Bochum - World of Form
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c cf. Stadt und Bildhauerei , 1st Bochum Sculpture Symposium 1979/80. Organizer: City of Bochum, publisher Museum Bochum, 1981, editor: Ute Dreckmann
- ↑ a b c See steel locations. Terminal by Richard Serra and nine works from the 1st Bochum Symposium on City and Sculpture 1979/80 . Brochure, City of Bochum Culture Office and Art Museum Bochum, 1987
- ^ History of the Kunstmuseum Bochum ( Memento from August 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ). City of Bochum