Olaf Thormann

Analogue photography is enjoying a revival. Whereas digital photography is predominantly used for documentary and everyday purposes, its analogue counterpart is becoming increasingly popular as an artistic and experimental medium. This catalogue showcases the wide variety of contemporary trends in analogue photography as exemplified by individual and serial works, as well as photographic installations. Produced by 24 artists from German-speaking countries, the works are grouped into four thematic sections that illustrate different facets of this art form, all with a distinct focus on the material and experimental uses of light, chemical ingredients, and technique. The publication highlights contemporary takes on photograms, chemigrams, and lumen printing, which all hark back to the early days of photography. Silver daguerreotypes and ambrotypes of modern-day sceneries create a disturbing anachronistic effect. Yet other artists employ very different forms of photography that go beyond simple cameras. The catalogue also includes artistic positions that blur the boundaries between analogue and digital photography, e.g., by interacting with artificial intelligence, collaborating with digital machines, and transposing digital images into analogue pictures. The show includes work by: Sylvia Ballhause, Eun Sun Cho, Günter Derleth, Jana Dillo, Tine Edel, Alexander Gehring, Spiros Hadjidjanos, Alexander Kadow, Georgia Krawiec, Martin Kreitl, Antje Kröger, Ute Lindner, Lilly Lulay, Harald Mairböck, Florian Merkel, Falk Messerschmidt, Elisabeth Moritz, Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs, Helena Petersen, René Schäffer, Karoline Schneider, Regina Stiegeler, Claus Stolz, Ria Wank. Text in English and German.

'Vessel | Sculpture' refers to the direction studio pottery has taken since the mid-20th century, developing from primarily functional vessels to artistically designed vessels, ceramic sculpture, installation and conceptual art. The aim is to trace the history of how ceramics has evolved and developed into an autonomous art medium, which is continually self-renewing. Focused on the GRASSI Museum's collection of contemporary ceramic work since 1946 when Germany was divided into East and West after the World War II, this book provides a fascinating and instructive overview of developments and trends in the two Germanys. Moreover, a broad-ranging selection of works by ceramicists now active in both the new and the old Federal German states is supplemented by contemporary pieces from all over the world. The publication is devoted to one-off pieces and limited editions from the past six decades. Reproductions in large formats of approximately four hundred selected objects are accompanied by biographies of as many artists and their signatures.

In Munchen begrundete der Deutschbohme O. Th. W. Stein den Internationalen Kunstlerbund und die Neue Munchener Sezession mit, Bilder wie das Portrait seines Freundes Theodor Daubler (1913) machten ihn bekannt. In Berlin stand er der Freien Sezession nahe, in Chemnitz verlebte er seine kunstlerisch fruchtbarsten Jahre - bis er 1935 Deutschland verlassen musste. Er uberstand das KZ Theresienstadt und verbrachte seinen Lebensabend fast vergessen, in der Tschechoslowakei. Steins neuromantisch gepragtes Oeuvre fuhrt Traditionslinien der abendlandischen Kunst weiter und verkorpert einen eigenstandigen Beitrag zur Moderne."