Christian Megert
Christian Megert (born January 6, 1936 in Bern , Switzerland ; lives and works in Düsseldorf , Germany ) is a Swiss sculptor , object artist , installation and kinetic artist , known for his work with mirrors.
life and work
Christian Megert attended the arts and crafts school in Bern from 1952 to 1955, and from 1956 to 1960 he undertook extensive study trips to Berlin , Stockholm and Paris and attended the arts and crafts schools there.
He had his first exhibition in Bern in 1956. He created monochrome images of materials and structures as well as sculptures made of iron and synthetic resin . From 1960 onwards, mainly works made of glass and mirrors were created.
In 1961 he wrote his manifesto EIN NEUER RAUM for an exhibition in Copenhagen . The manifesto was a call to “rethink everything spatial” with the help of art . He had some exhibitions together with the group ZERO , with whom he created a number of environments and kinetic objects. This year also dates from Megert's first spatial environment, a mirror room that was installed in the gallery of the Copenhagen artist friend Addi Køpcke. One wall of the room was hung with squares of mirrors that multiplied fragments of space and visitors and created new rooms in an endless synthesis.
In 1962 he exhibited in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam , in 1964 at the Swiss national exhibition EXPO in Lausanne, in the Kunsthaus Zurich , Linz and Graz . In 1968 he was represented at the 4th documenta in Kassel with two mirror objects and a mirror room. In this room, Megert covered the floor and ceiling with mirror squares, creating a vertical endless reflection. Due to the visual withdrawal of the floor, the viewer was apparently monumentally stretched up and down the floor. Megert also implemented the principle of mirror walls, strips and pictures in the outside area. Above all, the mirrored natural space with its changing lighting conditions was the focus of these installations.
The mirror is an industrially manufactured material that Megert uses to break shapes, change them and finally create a new space. The construction of an illusory space through mirror reflection is Megert's specific technique in order to produce the "NEW SPACE" called for in the manifesto. Image and real space are intertwined. To do this, the artist explores all facets of reflections and dynamizes the material by cutting it up, collaging, splintering, painting over or glazing it. In addition to the mirror, he also uses foils, light kinetic objects and polished natural stones. In his kinetic objects, Megert built light sources such as fluorescent tubes that produced a special color with different degrees of coverage of a color tone. Serial rows of colored elements emerged, which, in their infinitely continuous multiplication, created entire color spaces.
In 1973 Christian Megert moved to Düsseldorf . From 1976 to 2002 he was a professor at the Chair for Integration of Fine Art and Architecture at the Düsseldorf Art Academy . He created numerous large stone sculptures for the music center in Amsterdam, the city of Maastricht , WestLB in Wesel , the Federal Horticultural Show in Düsseldorf, the terrace swimming pool in Baden, the Thun bank association and for the city of Vaduz in Liechtenstein .
In 2009 Christian Megert had a retrospective at the Museum for Concrete Art Ingolstadt and was accepted into the Foundation for Concrete Art and Design Ingolstadt. Megert lives and works in Düsseldorf and Bern.
Solo exhibitions (selection)
- 1959 Club des 4 vents, Paris / Galerie St. Luc, Barcelona (with B. Wurster)
- 1960 Galerie Kopcke, Copenhagen (with D. Rot)
- 1961 Galerie Punkt 31, Dordrecht / Manifesto for mirrors and glass, Galerie Kopcke, Copenhagen / Galerie Rosanders, Landskrona / Galerie St. Luc, Barcelona (with B. Wurster)
- 1962 Galerie A, Arnheim / Galerie Orez, The Hague (with S. Brown and G. Colombo)
- 1963 Galerie d, Frankfurt / Galerie Knöll, Basel / Rijksuniversität, Leiden (with S. Brown and G. Colombo) / Galerie Kasper, Lausanne
- 1964 Environment, Swiss National Exhibition, Lausanne
- 1965 Galerie aktuell, Bern / Halfmannshof, Gelsenkirchen
- 1966 Galerie Loer, Frankfurt (with S. Cremer, A. Luther and F. Spindel) / Galerie Toni Gerber, Bern
- 1967 (Op) Art Gallery, Esslingen / Galerie Vismara, Milan
- 1968 Swart Gallery, Amsterdam / Toni Gerber Gallery, Bern / Reckermann Gallery, Cologne
- 1969 Bischofberger Gallery, Zurich / Latzer Gallery, Kreuzlingen
- 1970 Galerie Ernst, Hanover / Galerie Lichter, Frankfurt
- 1971 Reckermann Gallery, Cologne / Bernhard Gallery, Solothurn (with H. Distel) / Thomas Keller Gallery, Starnberg / Art + Life Gallery, Munich / Edith Wahlandt Gallery, Schwäbisch Gmünd
- 1972 Berner Galerie, Bern / Forum Kunst, Rottweil / Galerie Ernstg, Hanover
- 1973 Galerie Media, Neuchâtel / Galerie Reckermann, Cologne
- 1974 Studio Casati, Merate, Milan / Edith Wahlandt Gallery, Schwäbisch Gmünd
- 1975 Lucy Milton Gallery, London / Kunsthalle Heilbronn / Galerie St.Johann, Saarbrücken / Galerie Seestrasse Rapperswil / Galerie Uhu, Karlsruhe / Galerie Lydia Megert, Bern
- 1977 Herzog Gallery, Büren an der Aare
- 1978 Edith Wahlandt Gallery, Schwäbisch Gmünd
- 1979 Kunstverein Düsseldorf / Galerie Reckermann, Cologne
- 1980 Edith Wahlandt Gallery, Schwäbisch Gmünd
- 1981 Schöller Gallery, Düsseldorf / Rosenthal factory, Selb / Rosenthal factory in Amberg
- 1982 Edith Wahlandt Gallery, Schwäbisch Gmünd / Bühler Gallery, Biel / Podio del Mondo, Middelburg
- 1985 Gallery Schöller, Düsseldorf
- 1986 Edith Wahlandt Gallery, Schwäbisch Gmünd / Gallery H, Burgdorf (with P. Willen) / Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht / Jan van Eyck Academy, Maastricht
- 1987 Museum of Modern Art, Cuxhaven (with D. Sayler)
- 1988 Schöller Gallery, Düsseldorf / Edith Wahlandt Gallery, Schwäbisch Gmünd
- 1989 Galerie Hermanns, Munich / Galerie Wilfried von Gunten, Thun
- 1992 Galerie Krebs, Bern
- 1995 Sala 1, Rome / Galerie Schöller, Düsseldorf
- 1996 Edith Wahlandt Gallery, Schwäbisch Gmünd / Schöller Gallery, Düsseldorf
- 1997 City Museum Gelsenkirchen / Art Museum Bern / Galerie Krebs, Bern
- 1999 Wilfried von Gunten Gallery, Thun
- 2000 Lilo Marti Gallery, St Paul de Vence
- 2001 Gallery Schöller, Düsseldorf
- 2002 KölnSkulptur, Galerie Benden & Klimczak, Art Cologne, Cologne / Galerie Benden & Kimczak, Cologne / Galerie Parade, Amsterdam
- 2003 Christian Megert, Spiegelobjekte (with Klaus Staudt), Galerie am Lindenplatz, Vaduz
- 2006 Christian Megert, Lausberg Gallery, Düsseldorf / Christian Megert - Square and Color - for his 70th birthday, Edith Wahlandt Gallery, Stuttgart
- 2007 Christian Megert, Galerie La Ligne, Zurich
- 2008 Galerie am Lindenplatz, Vaduz / Galerie Benden & Klimczak, Cologne
- 2009 Christian Megert retrospective, Museum for Concrete Art Ingolstadt
Literature and Sources
- Exhibition catalog for the IV. Documenta: IV. Documenta. International exhibition ; Catalog: Volume 1: (Painting and Sculpture); Volume 2: (Graphics / Objects); Kassel 1968
- Kimpel, Harald / Stengel, Karin: documenta IV 1968 International Exhibition - A Photographic Reconstruction (series of publications from the documenta archive); Bremen 2007, ISBN 978-3-86108-524-9 .
- Hoffmann, Tobias (Ed.). Artist of the Foundation for Concrete Art and Design Ingolstadt 01 . Wienand, Cologne 2012. ISBN 978-3-86832-133-3 .
- Hoffman, Tobias (Ed.) Retrospective Christian Megert. Museum for Concrete Art, Foundation for Concrete Art and Design Ingolstadt. ISBN 978-3-86678-276-1 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Christian Megert in the catalog of the German National Library
- Homepage of the artist
- Elisabeth Grossmann: Megert, Christian. In: Sikart (as of: 2018)
- Materials by and about Christian Megert in the documenta archive
- Christian Megert at the Ingolstadt Foundation for Concrete Art and Design
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Megert, Christian |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss sculptor, object artist, installation and kinetic artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 6, 1936 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bern |