In its 20th anniversary year “Blickachsen” will from 21 May to 1 October transform the Rhine-Main region into a place of adventure for contemporary international sculpture.
Experiencing nature and appreciating art: from 21 May to 1 October the Blickachsen Foundation will once again invite visitors to an extraordinary art experience in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe and selected locations throughout the Rhine-Main region. For the eleventh time, the “Blickachsen” Sculpture Biennale will present works by international artists in the public space, offering contemporary art at the highest level. And this year, “Blickachsen” will celebrate its 20th anniversary. Alongside Documenta, Sculpture Projects Münster and the Venice Biennale, it marks a further highlight of the Grand Tour in 2017.
The first “Blickachsen” was held in 1997 with works by Anthony Caro, Bernhard Heiliger and Ansgar Nierhoff, among others. Looking back over all the exhibitions, the list of participating artists reads like a Who’s Who of contemporary sculpture. Originally held in the Bad Homburg Kurpark, the successful project quickly expanded to additional new venues. The seventh exhibition in 2009 went on to occupy the Schlosspark, which had been redesigned in the 18th century as an English landscaped garden. And in the same year, the Rhine-Main region was already in its sights: Timm Ulrichs’ sensor-controlled kinetic work “Dancing Trees” moved the event out to three further locations, including Darmstadt and Weilburg. This constant expansion reached its high point two years ago, when eight locations were brought into play in addition to Bad Homburg, in a journey
taking us to Eppstein Castle, Darmstadt, Eschborn, Frankfurt, Neu-Anspach with the Hessenpark Open-Air Museum, Saalburg Fort, Eberbach Monastery, and Kronberg. Not least because of this has “Blickachsen”, with its city-spanning structure, become a noted date in the international art calendar.
With “Blickachsen 11”, curator Christian K. Scheffel is once again in 2017 creating a forum for an artistic coming together. Internationally renowned artists join new talents, opening a view onto a broad spectrum of positions in contemporary sculpture. Through the sensitive planning of space they come together and complement each other: this year, again, the visitor will be able to trace the contrasts and connections between the different works, moving around the exhibition in the open air. Peter Joseph Lenné was the creator of the Bad Homburg Kurpark, established in 1856. His “Blickachsen”, or visual axes, are part of a historical concept, which is uniquely brought alive today through contemporary art.
For this year’s eleventh “Blickachsen”, the Foundation is happy to welcome the Austrian Museum Liaunig in Neuhaus, near the Slovenian border, as partner museum. This collaboration promises the participation of a range of Austrian artists with very different approaches and ways of working. The organizer is the Blickachsen Foundation, a public benefit organization which ensures the long-term future of the exhibition series founded by Christian K. Scheffel. The joint organizers are the City of Bad Homburg, the Kur- und Kongreß-GmbH Bad Homburg, and the Administration of the Public Stately Homes and Gardens in Hessen.
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