Kleinsassen art station

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Main building of the Kleinsassen art station

The Kleinsassen art station in Kleinsassen at the foot of the Milseburg in the Rhön is a forum for art. On an area of ​​1400 m 2 it shows changing exhibitions on contemporary art of all media and styles. It also has artist studios, guest apartments, a painting school, an art library and a café. A sculpture garden was set up around the building complex . Peter Ballmaier was the managing director of the art station from 1979 to 2015. Since then, Monika Ebertowski has directed the art station.

History and exhibition activity

Based on a concept that envisaged combining painting schools with exhibitions in order to create a meeting place for those interested in art, artists and collectors, the artist Gerhard Jürgen Blum-Kwiatkowski founded seven art stations in Fulda , Bad Hersfeld , Eschwege in cooperation with East Hessian adult education centers , Bad Salzschlirf , Kleinsassen as well as in Cornberg Monastery and Rittershain Castle . In the foreground - according to Gerhard Jürgen Blum-Kwiatkowski's credo : "My goal is to inspire people to become actors who are not amazed or understanding, but rather understand them themselves." modern art in contrast to the mere consumption of art. In order to make the artist tangible as a person, those interested in art have the opportunity to participate in the creation process of the work in the art stations. “Art is to be asked, not to be bought!” ( Gerhard Jürgen Blum-Kwiatkowski 1975)

The Kleinsassen art station, founded in 1979 in a former village school, became known nationwide - in addition to its exhibition activities - in particular through international activities, the annual art week and numerous symposiums and lectures.

In 1986, for example, the “Kunststraße Rhön” project - on the initiative of Gerhard Jürgen Blum-Kwiatkowski - led artists from the group of artists working group for systematic constructive art to a symposium at the Kleinsassen art station. Afterwards, not only installations and project concepts by artists from Great Britain, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania etc. a. exhibited in the Kleinsassen art station. In particular - from Hünfeld to Seiferts on the former German-German border - sculptures of Concrete Art were installed in public spaces, both in and out of town. Works by Ewerdt Hilgemann , Marcello Morandini or HD Schrader still bear witness to this avant-garde event today.

The installation Tanszendment in the specially built first exhibition hall of the art station attracted national attention at the end of the 1980s and was even featured as an external documenta contribution in the media.

But not only Concrete Art found and will find a forum in the art station, other art movements also have their say here. Under the title Art of the GDR , the Kleinsassen art station, in collaboration with the Ludwig Collection, provided insights into the visual arts of the other Germany even before German reunification. To this day there is a lively exchange with artists from the former border area and the art metropolises Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig, but also with the art colleges in Kassel, Gdansk / Poland and Cluj-Napoca / Romania. There are further connections to artists from the former Yugoslavia, Finland, southern France, Italy and Sweden. The art station also showed the Russian avant-garde (Talotschkin Collection) and Chinese art in exile early - long before other galleries - and, last but not least, the North German realists were also guests again and again.

The art station's exhibitions that have received widespread attention include a. the exhibitions on Bernhard Heisig (2006), Armin Mueller-Stahl (2008), on prints by Salvador Dalí (2009) and the exhibition “Horses. Art from antiquity to today "- with over 300 works of art from three millennia, the largest special exhibition in Hesse in 2010. As an art and cultural-historical exhibition, it was an exception in the offer of the art station.

Particularly noteworthy is the art campaign “Tensions”, in which 64 artists from 15 countries designed an 800 m long canvas in 1992 and thus realized one of the largest land art projects in Hesse.

From 1989 to 2005, the art station awarded short-term and annual grants to graduated artists. Fellows were: Ellen van Ess (1989–1991), Peter Henryk Blum (1991–1994), Numan Huseinbegovic (1994–1998), Yoichiro Nichida (1999), Jana Schwarz (1999), Andreas Ensslen (1999), Dagmar Rauwald ( 2000), Vladimir Skokov (2000), Otto Nemitz (2000), Petra Lange (2001–2002) and Predrag Hegedüs (2003–2005). Short-term scholarships and invitations to work stays are still issued today; In this context, the art station's cooperation partners are galleries and artist associations. a. in Mexico, Sweden, Slovenia, France, Finland and Germany.

After one year of conversion and renovation measures on the occasion of its 25th anniversary, the art station was reopened in January 2005 with a large retrospective by its founder Gerhard Jürgen Blum-Kwiatkowski. The three halls that have gradually emerged over the years are now grouped together. A spacious, light-flooded café with a wide view of the landscape complements the ensemble, and a modern and easily accessible entrance opens the art station to the courtyard. The renovation was awarded the Simon-Louis-du-Ry plaque from the Federal Association of German Architects for “good architecture”.

Activities for visitors interested in art

Every year in summer, the "Kleinsassen Art Week" takes place in Kleinsassen. Farmers in the village are clearing their barns and stables and making them available as exhibition space, and you can look over the shoulder of artists at work.

Since 2009, the Free Painting School in the Kleinsassen art station has been offering weekend seminars on various drawing, painting and printing techniques as well as a painting week during the summer holidays. In addition, there are always jazz concerts, song and cabaret evenings.

In 1996, an art library was set up, which keeps the collection of the art station available for private individuals and companies to borrow.

financing

From 1979 to 2005 the community college of the district of Fulda was responsible for the Kunststation Kleinsassen . The head of the adult education center was also head of the Kleinsassen art station. However, in 2005 the art station was taken out of administration by the Fulda District Adult Education Center and converted into a non-profit association. The board of the sponsoring association Kunststation Kleinsassen eV is the district administrator of the district of Fulda , Bernd Woide . The sponsoring association is also funded by the Sparkasse Fulda Foundation and receives help from the Main-Kinzig-Fulda Cultural Summer, funded by the State of Hesse and the Sparkasse Culture Foundation Hesse-Thuringia.

Half of the funds for setting up the Artothek were provided by the Fulda district and the other half by the Fulda Regional Development, Landscape Management and Agriculture Office as part of the LEADER II program, which provided funds from the European Union and the State of Hesse.

Individual evidence

  1. “An era is coming to an end”: Peter Ballmaier, head of the Kleinsassen art station, says goodbye to the Fuldaer Zeitung on May 8, 2015
  2. "I was always familiar with small people " Marktkorb from March 30, 2015
  3. ^ Museum director Jürgen Blum - Museum Modern Art Hünfeld
  4. ^ Gerhard Jürgen Blum-Kwiatkowski - Retrospective . Reopening of the Kleinsassen art station, January 9th to April 17th, 2004
  5. Jürgen Blum, Avantgarde, 1/1975, quoted from: Peter Ballmaier: Jürgen Blum und die Kunststation , January 3, 2005
  6. international working group for constructive design
  7. ^ Rhön Art Street (World-of-Form)
  8. ^ Information from the association "Malerdorf Kleinsassen" , accessed on August 30, 2017

Web links

Coordinates: 50 ° 33 '7.9 "  N , 9 ° 52' 35.8"  E