Michael Friedrichs-Friedlaender

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Michael Friedrichs-Friedlaender (born 1950 in Munich ) is a German metal sculptor and sculptor . Since 2005 he has been making the memorial stones manually for the art and memory project Stolpersteine ​​by the artist Gunter Demnig .

Live and act

After finishing school, Michael Friedrichs-Friedlaender completed a three-year apprenticeship as a machine fitter . After moving to Berlin , he co-founded the K 19 factory in 1978 . Since 1981 he has been working as a freelance artist in Berlin, initially in a studio in Berlin-Wedding , from 1991 on at the Künstlerhof in Berlin-Buch .

From 1989 to 2001 he received art funding from the city of Berlin. Together with his wife Aleksandra Koneva , he led four projects in the education program of the Berliner Philharmoniker from 2003 to 2006 and artistically realized works on Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons , Igor Stravinsky's Petrushka and Georg Friedrich Handel's oratorio Belshazzar , among others .

He created metal sculptures for numerous private and public clients, including in 2001, together with Matthias Däumlich and Christian J. Joost, the memorial for the Street of Nations in the Ravensbrück concentration camp , sculptures for the State Office for Health and Social Affairs , the Julius-Leber-Kaserne and for a residential area in Hoppegarten . In addition, he worked for numerous art and theater projects. Long work stays and study trips lasting several months have taken him to Russia , France , Japan , India and the United States, among others .

Michael Friedrichs-Friedlaender almost exclusively used iron in the production of his sculptures , which he welds and then grinds. Sometimes he combined the metal objects, depending on the topic, with other materials, such as rocks ( brain stones ), books ( Cubus 3rd series ) or leather ( helmet fragments ).

“To implement his ideas, the artist decided to use clear forms, on cube and column. The cube symbolizes solidity, durability and a close connection with the earth, closely related to the square, which stands for boundaries, finiteness and sometimes for confinement. The column symbolizes the supporting pillar as well as the primal force of the tree; in many cultures it is a symbol for the world axis or the world center. The shape of the sculptures is strictly limited by clear edges and surfaces. Cracks and crevices that arise during processing give insights into the inner workings of the objects. [...] Relationships to the Bauhaus and to the form follows function principle can be clearly seen. "

- Harald-Alexander Klimek and Wilfried Menghin : head vessels
Stolperstein for Walter Kaufmann Stadtwaldgürtel 65–67, Cologne (2017)

Stumbling blocks

Michael Friedrichs-Friedlaender has been making the stumbling blocks for the art and memory project Stolpersteine ​​by the artist Gunter Demnig since 2005. The letters are stamped into the brass plates by Friedrichs-Friedlaender by hand in 20 different languages. In 2016 he executed a stone in Braille for the first time , which was laid in Graz in memory of a deaf-mute writer . Together with two employees , he produces an average of 400 to 500 stones per month in his studio in French-Buchholz .

By June 2018 Michael Friedrichs-Friedlaender had produced over 60,000 stumbling blocks. The artist lives and works in Berlin.

Exhibitions (selection)

Solo exhibitions

  • Projects V – VI and XVI of the education program of the Berlin Philharmonic - ( Four Seasons (Vivaldi); Petruschka (Stravinsky); Belhazzar (Handel)) 2003 to 2006
  • Reinecke Fuchs , Stravinsky 2003 to 2005
  • Galerie Nevski, St. Petersburg 1999 and 2000
  • Kortes Group Amersfoort , 1999
  • Detmold Castle , 1995
  • Charité , Berlin 1994
  • Galerie Spandau, 1993, 1994
  • Kunsthaus Die Möwe, Berlin 1992
  • Galerie Maerz, Linz 1992
  • Galerie van Almsick, Gronau-Epe 1991
  • Kunstverein Schering, Berlin 1990, 2001
  • Otto Nagel Gallery, Berlin 1990
  • Galerie Fabrik K, Berlin 1984, 1987

Group exhibitions

Works of art in public ownership and in public space

  • Artothek of the New Berlin Art Association, Berlin
  • Berlin textile printing company
  • Julius Leber barracks, Berlin
  • Graphotek Charlottenburg, Berlin
  • Schering Art Association, Berlin
  • State Office for Health and Social Affairs, Berlin
  • Hoppegarten housing estate, Berlin
  • Street of Nations, memorial, Ravensbrück concentration camp
  • Nordbank, Nordhausen

Web links

Commons : Michael Friedrichs-Friedlaender  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Harald-Alexander Klimek and Wilfried Menghin (eds.): Face to face - head vessels . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-422-06942-8 , p. 281 ff .
  2. ^ Michael Friedrichs-Friedlaender: Michael Friedrichs-Friedlaender. Retrieved May 22, 2018 .
  3. ↑ rbb television: Video "57,000 names - stumbling blocks to remember" - heaven and earth. November 4, 2017, accessed on May 22, 2018 (German).
  4. ↑ Terry Swartzberg: Negotiated memories: Dealing with honors, monuments and memorials after 1945 . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2017, ISBN 978-3-657-78798-2 , p. 234 .
  5. ^ Graz: First stumbling block in Braille - REMEMBER: NATIONAL SOCIALISM AND HOLOCAUST. Retrieved June 23, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Give the victims a name. Publications, Israel Office. Retrieved May 22, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Friedrichs-Friedlaender, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German metal sculptor and sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich