“Utopia starts small” – 12th Fellbach Small Sculpture Triennial
23rd June to 29th September 2013, Alte Kelter, Fellbach, Germany
Opening: 22nd June 2013.
Curators:
Yilmaz Dziewior (Director Kunsthaus Bregenz)
Angelika Nollert (Director Neues Museum – Staatliches Museum für Kunst und Design – Nürnberg)
The traditional understanding of the Kleinplastik – the small sculpture, figurine or statuette – consists chiefly of two aspects: on the one hand the small format, on the other the claim to be a finished artwork inasmuch as it has been fashioned in an autonomous way. Numerous examples beginning in pre-historical times, as for instance the Willendorf Venus, and later antique funerary figures and baroque statuettes should also be mentioned here, as should Thomas Schütte’s “Kleine Geister” – his “Little Ghosts”.
Since the dawn of Modernism we can observe how another form of Kleinplastik has also developed. Artists who are occupied with the idea of utopian models are expanding the as yet limited concept of the genre and with that overcoming its formal restrictions to small formats and self-containment.
“Utopia starts small” takes a particular line on the content of the small sculptureas a model-like blueprint. A productive contradiction arises in that although the blueprint, as an artwork, is autonomous – even if there is no intention to realise it later on a larger scale – it may simultaneously contain an intellectual potential for change.
A total of some 50 artists from various generations will participate in the 12th Fellbach Small Sculpture Triennial in 2013. Over and beyond the visual arts, the exhibition will also explore exemplary ideas from architecture, theatre and design.
By directing its attention increasingly to non-European approaches, the 12th Small Sculpture Triennial is not only responding directly to the global situation, but also serving as a reference point for the previous presentations at Fellbach, which have been oriented to specific continents.