The contradictions between the current social conditions in China and the classical cultural models are dramatized by Yang Fudong (born 1971), one of the most important representatives of contemporary art in China, thanks to his films in particular. Chen Ronghui (born 1989) documents in long-term projects the process of urbanization and its effect on the lives of individuals. His series Freezing Land(2016 – 2018) tells the story of today’s northeastern China, whose once flourishing economy has dramatically collapsed since the turn of the millennium. Birdhead, the artists Song Tao (born 1979) and Ji Weiyu (born 1980), recalls with its conceptual works things repressed in the most recent history of Shanghai. It is dedicated to everyday things, not in nostalgia, but also visual alternatives to the new extravagant modernity. RongRong (born 1968) captures the artistic activities of the Beijing East Village Collective, a group of young artists to which he belongs. He documents especially their everyday life and radical performances before the district on the eastern edge of Beijing was evicted by force in 1995. In their series Liulitun(2000 – 2003), RongRong and the Japanese photographer Inricaptured their personal memories of their life together as artists, couple, and family in the eponymous place before it was destroyed. They see their photographs as aesthetic resistance to the violent intervention of state power.

Several of the photographers in the exhibition record their personal memories as if their works were historical documents of that verypast. In fading black-and-white and sepia tones, with scratches and other signs of wear, they look like found objects. They include the Polaroid-based works of Zhang Xiao (born 1981) with their sequential fragments of images of childhood and homeland (Grandma Liu Picking Apples, 2013, Mother and Neighbors, 2015). The black-and-whitephotographs of Adou (born 1973) also seem, in their motifs and aesthetic, like documents of a search for lost time and vanished places. Adou traveled in remote provinces and to the village community of her childhood to find unspoiled nature and introspection. The black-and-white photographs of the series Some Days (from 1999 to 2009) by Wang Ningde (born 1972) are like scenes from the drama of a silent film: he photographs all his protagonists with closed eyes—expressing dream or nightmare, meditation or flight, surreal in-between worlds of happiness or resignation.

The emotional life of his generation, friendship, love, fear, and loneliness are the subjects of Ren Hang (1987 – 2017) in his color photographs of young women and men. By presenting their nudity and depicting gender roles, he touches on taboos of traditional Chinese society. The question of the role of women and sexual orientation and economic equality is posed by the young photographer Liang Xiu (born 1994), who focuses on her private sphere and social environment — far from big cities and on the margins of society. They are often self-portraits in narrative contexts. Dedication to the language of the body and tales of intrapersonal relationships are found in the work of Gao Mingxi (born 1992). Meticulously staged over a long period, in surreal light and colors, Chen Wei (born 1980) creates fictional, alternatives worlds, places of nocturnal refuge of design, as in the works Disco #1006 (2015), Dance Hall (2013), and In the Waves #2 (2013).

This exhibition is intended as a contribution to the discourse on contemporary photography in China, a country that is increasingly a decisive political and economic power internationally, though its visual worlds are little known in the medium of photography in the Western world. These photographs, where their autobiographical narratives, subjective worlds of ideas, alternative models and visions offer insight into the individual complex emotional and experiential worlds of a generation of young artists who use photograph as their medium in diverse ways in their search for identity in the turbulences of a changing society.

1. Activities in Art

Exhibitions and Art Collection
In its internationally oriented exhibition and collecting activities, the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung concentrates on contemporary sculptures and installations using the medium of glass and on modern photography. It regularly presents exhibitions on innovative themes. The headquarters of the foundation in Munich, in a Jugendstil villa in Schwabing that was once a sculptor’s studio, provide an ideal setting. Particular attention is paid to glass as a material and its numerous and new possibilities in art. That also influences the acquisitions for the collection. They include works both by young artists and internationally renowned ones such as, recently, Tony Cragg, Mona Hatoum, Kiki Smith, Pae White, and others. New acquisitions in the area of photography include works by artists such as James Casebere, Stan Douglas, and Robert Rauschenberg.

Supporting Young Artists
In 2016, the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung launched a large sponsorship program to improve education for students in the field of sculpture with a focus on glass. It includes, among other things, exhibitions of student projects, the production of elaborate works of art, and provide adequate technology for workshops. For example, the Freie Kunst Glas (Free Art in Glass) course at the Institut für Künstlerische Keramik und Glas (IKKG) at the Hochschule Koblenz has been receiving generous financial support from the foundation for several years now, as have the annual exhibition of the glass course at the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Munich and the Staatliche Glasfachschule Rheinbach. The foundation is also devoting itself to various projects for the further education of specific artists who work with glass as a material or in the field of photograph, for example, by awarding scholarships to the Pilchuck Glass School in the United States.

Institutional Support
As part of its support for institutions, the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung has been the primary sponsor of the Haus der Kunst in Munich, which permits substantial, extensive support. In addition to its ongoing commitment, it supports innovative exhibitions on photography at the Haus der Kunst such as Thomas Struth. For the Photography and New Media Collection at the Pinakothek der Moderne, the foundation has funded the acquisition of important works of photography such as recently the famous series The Brown Sisters by Nicholas Nixon. In addition, until 2020 it is fully supporting the three-part exhibition series Fotografie heute – Künstlerische Fotografie im digitalen Zeitalter (Photography Today: Art Photography in the Digital Age). Young artists working in the field of photography are thus given a unique forum in a museum.

2. Activities in Science

Supporting Research
For the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung, supporting research and teaching in engineering is one important concern. Engineering makes the knowledge gained in the natural sciences available in our daily lives and thus represents the technological progress of society. The focus of its funding measures is currently on basic and applied research in the areas of glass, ceramics, stones, and earths. These fields, which provide important insights for other areas of engineering, are increasingly ignored as support instead benefits modern fields. To ensure that it does not become a marginal field at technical universities, and to make it more attractive to students, universities and innovative research projects are given financial support. For example, for many years the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung has been funding larger research projects, dissertation scholarships, and more at the Technische Universität in Dortmund, the Technische Universität Bergakademie in Freiberg, and the Universität Koblenz-Landau. It supports the acquisition of high-quality instruments and funds other equipment necessary for teaching.

Supporting Young Scientists
Supporting a broad range of young scientists as specialists and engineers is another important task for the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung. It focuses on improving educational opportunities. The foundation has donated funds for education in all professional fields related to ceramics, for students not only at universities but also at technical colleges and high schools. In this context, the foundation awards many scholarships as well as funding prizes for outstanding achievements and social commitment from young talents. Since 2019, it has also been awarding thirty Germany scholarships at the Technische Universität in Munich to students of the natural sciences.

Munich, February 2019

Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung
Karl-Theodor-Str. 27
80803 München
Tel. +49 (0)89 – 55 27 30 60
Fax +49 (0)89 – 55 27 30 619
info@atstiftung.de
www.atstiftung.de

Translation: Steven Lindberg

Everyday functional things can be understood as “primary gestures”: a knot, for example, but also a circle, a sphere, a spiral, a bowl, or a marble. Transformed into an artistic object, they obtain a special presence and gain in value and significance. By defamiliarizing their form, changing their material, or placing them in a different context by means of negation or disassembly, such gestures become “charged” and thus communicate beyond the visible and banal, beyond the “primary.” They transport cultural traditions into the present, point to mythological or religious roots; they remember and tell stories. Often a wealth of associations and meanings is hidden under the surface. They trigger mental and emotional images—in attraction and difference. For the artist and for the viewer, the point is, as Hassan Khan expresses it, to read, decipher, and understand these primary gestures.

All of the artists in this exhibition work with such primary gestures. The Palestinian-British artist Mona Hatoum (b. 1952) places thousands of black marbles on top of and next to one another to form a round field (Turbulence, 2014). The Canadian artist Jana Sterbak (b. 1955) hand-blows bowls and stacks them inside one another, creating the impression of a spiral (Hard Entry, 2004). The Egyptian artist Hassan Khan (b. 1975) produces an artful replica of a knot in glass (The Knot, 2012), and the American artist Terry Winters (b. 1949) transforms the idea of a vessel into intuitive, organic forms such as spheres and bubbles (Marseille Templates, 2004–2006).

The Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung supports art and science. It was established in December 2000 by Alexander Tutsek and Dr. Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek as a nonprofit foundation. The foundation has an active interdisciplinary program committed to the special, the neglected, and the overlooked in art and science.

Munich, July 2018

Information
Title of the exhibition: Primary Gestures
Dates: March 22 to October 18, 2019
Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 2 to 6 p.m., closed holidays

Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung
Karl-Theodor-Strasse 27 // 80803 Munich // Tel. +49 (0)89-55273060
info@atstiftung.de // www.atstiftung.de

Many contemporary artists have rediscovered the magic of the material. They work with materials that are generally allocated to the crafts, to the functional, or to decoration. They value the immediacy and haptic qualities of the material, the physical and emotional effect on the viewer and the historic, intellectual, and spiritual meanings. “The appreciation of the material glass has increased significantly in contemporary art,” says Dr. Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek, Chair of the foundation. She wanted to dedicate an exhibition to this phenomenon and has brought together significant works by renowned international artists.

What aspects of glass fascinate artists who come primarily from painting such as Alejandra Seeber, or those who work with bronze, marble, or wood such as Tony Cragg, or with video such as Mona Hatoum and photography such as Raimund Kummer? Is it the play of light inherent to glass; its reflections, fragility, and translucency, its technical possibilites, tradition and history, its narrative quality? With these questions the exhibition, Viewing the Other, also contributes to the discourse on glass in contemporary art.

The selected works by seven artists are all pieces of exceptional quality and cultural significance. As different as they may be, the thirteen works come together as a narrative: The Speech Bubbles (2014) floating in space by the Argentinian artist Alejandra Seeber (b. 1968), Gespräch unter drei Augen (1990) by Raimund Kummer (b. 1954), or the couple of Listeners (2015) made by the British artist Tony Cragg (b. 1949); the wall piece Glass Feathers (2015) by the Korean artist Ki-Ra Kim (b. 1959), Korb V (2014) with two red cell-shaped vessels by the London-based, Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum (b. 1952); Ashen (2010) by the New York artist Kiki Smith (b. 1954) in which glass flowers grow from a wooden sculpture resembling a coffin, or Overserved (2017), a wall built of reflecting deep-blue glass bricks by Pae White (b. 1963).

The installations create a poetics of space. They transform the house of the foundation, an Art Nouveau villa and once a sculptor’s studio, into a space that draws the viewer into contemplation and reflection.

The Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung supports art and science. Alexander Tutsek and Dr. Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek established the nonprofit foundation in Munich in December 2000. As part of its program spanning art and science, the foundation is deeply committed to the particular and exceptional or even to that which is neglected and overlooked.

Munich, May 2018

Information
Exhibition title: Viewing the Other
Exhibition dates: Until 16 November 2018
Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday 2 to 6 pm, closed on holidays

Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung
Karl-Theodor-Straße 27 // 80803 Munich // Germany // Tel. +49 89 55 27 30 60
info@atstiftung.de // www.atstiftung.de

Many contemporary artists have rediscovered the magic of the material. They work with materials that are generally allocated to the crafts, to the functional, or to decoration. They value the immediacy and haptic qualities of the material, the physical and emotional effect on the viewer and the historic, intellectual, and spiritual meanings. “The appreciation of the material glass has increased significantly in contemporary art,” says Dr. Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek, Chair of the foundation. She wanted to dedicate an exhibition to this phenomenon and has brought together significant works by renowned international artists.

What aspects of glass fascinate artists who come primarily from painting such as Alejandra Seeber, or those who work with bronze, marble, or wood such as Tony Cragg, or with video such as Mona Hatoum and photography such as Raimund Kummer? Is it the play of light inherent to glass; its reflections, fragility, and translucency, its technical possibilites, tradition and history, its narrative quality? With these questions the exhibition, Viewing the Other, also contributes to the discourse on glass in contemporary art.

The selected works by seven artists are all pieces of exceptional quality and cultural significance. As different as they may be, the thirteen works come together as a narrative: The Speech Bubbles (2014) floating in space by the Argentinian artist Alejandra Seeber (b. 1968), Gespräch unter drei Augen (1990) by Raimund Kummer (b. 1954), or the couple of Listeners (2015) made by the British artist Tony Cragg (b. 1949); the wall piece Glass Feathers (2015) by the Korean artist Ki-Ra Kim (b. 1959), Korb V (2014) with two red cell-shaped vessels by the London-based, Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum (b. 1952); Ashen (2010) by the New York artist Kiki Smith (b. 1954) in which glass flowers grow from a wooden sculpture resembling a coffin, or Overserved (2017), a wall built of reflecting deep-blue glass bricks by Pae White (b. 1963).

The installations create a poetics of space. They transform the house of the foundation, an Art Nouveau villa and once a sculptor’s studio, into a space that draws the viewer into contemplation and reflection.

The Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung supports art and science. Alexander Tutsek and Dr. Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek established the nonprofit foundation in Munich in December 2000.
As part of its program spanning art and science, the foundation is deeply committed to the particular and exceptional or even to that which is neglected and overlooked.

Munich, November 2017

Information
Exhibition title: Viewing the Other
Exhibition dates: 26 January to 29 June 2018
Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday 2 to 6 pm, closed on holidays

Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung
Karl-Theodor-Straße 27 // 80803 Munich // Germany // Tel. +49 89 55 27 30 60
info@atstiftung.de // www.atstiftung.de

Rinko Kawauchi (born in Shiga, Japan in 1972) is a renowned artist in her native country. In Europe and the USA only insiders know her photographs, in which she transforms daily life or nature into something breathtaking and new. The exhibition shows large-scale photographs from the series “Ametsuchi”. By reference to the destructive and at the same time rejuvenating power of fire, reduced landscape images depicting the traditional controlled slash-and-burn land clearance address the relationship between people, nature, and time. In addition, the exhibition presents small intimate photographs from the series “Illuminance”. Here Rinko Kawauchi focuses on gentle sometimes also disturbing things or activities of daily life—based on her personal experiences. In her choice of details and perspectives and the subtle use of natural light in combination with often translucent colors, Rinko Kawauchi has found a very personal, distinctive language for her photography. Her groups of works allow viewers to see their everyday surroundings with new eyes, with greater consciousness, and a broader perspective.

The sculptures presented together with the photographs reinforce this perception. In a medium rather infrequent for art—glass, a material which allows many different techniques—the works deal with people’s immediate subjective experiences. The objects by twenty-one artists were purchased by the foundation for the exhibition. Nearly all are on view outside of Japan for the first time.

Naomi Shioya’s installation “Form of Water”, made of glass formed freehand and at the kiln, shows the traces that water leaves on earth, similar to the traces time leaves on human lives. Other artists, such as Kana Tanaka with her light installation “Petal Stream”, also address phenomena in nature.

The architect Tadao Ando’s three-part installation presents the being-in-the-world concept of human habitation. The aquamarine glass steles look like high-rises. The installation unites rotated variations of the simple, basic shape of a triangle with various traditional cutting techniques. The work is simple but at the same time as complex as Ando’s minimalist architecture. Tadao Ando (75), one of the most significant contemporary architects worldwide, has received many awards including the renowned Pritzker Architecture Prize.

The house sculptures of artists Yuko Fujitsuka and Sayo Fujita emphasize the aspect of retreat and have titles such as “One Week for Meditation” or “Hokora” (shrine). Shima Koike with her mythical creatures, for instance “The World in My Hands”, and Kyoko Hirako with her installation of blown glass balls called “Sink into My Mind” examine the world in a broader context. The artist Masayo Odahashi, whom the foundation discovered a few years ago, impresses viewers with her depictions of complex mental states between figures communicating without words. Yoshiaki Kojiro and Sachi Fujikake go their own way in their approach to the material properties of glass. The artists’ experimental techniques endow their objects with their own physical laws, as if they belonged to a different world. Kojiro calls his foamy glass object simply “Be”.

The title of the exhibition “lebenswelt / life-world” alludes to the phenomenological concept of the same name. It is about the world as we experience it immediately and directly in the subjectivity of daily life (Edmund Husserl). This approach, perceiving everyday phenomena individually but also in their social and communicative context (Jürgen Habermas), is portrayed by the artworks selected for the exhibition.

The Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung sponsors art and science. Alexander Tutsek and Dr. Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek established the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung as a nonprofit foundation in December 2000 in Munich. As part of its program spanning art and science, the foundation is deeply committed to the particular and exceptional or even to that which is neglected and overlooked.

The exhibition is being held under the auspices of the Consulate General of Japan in Munich.

Information
Exhibition title: “lebenswelt / life-world”
Duration of exhibition: Until 20 October 2017
Opening hours: Tuesdays to Fridays 2 to 6 pm, closed on holidays.

Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung
Karl-Theodor-Straße 27
80803 München
Tel. +49 (0)89 – 55 27 30 60
info@atstiftung.de
www.atstiftung.de

The foundation is an Art Nouveau villa and thus unfortunately not adapted to the needs of the disabled.

Since June 2016 Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung is the partner and major supporter of Haus der Kunst. Dr. Ludwig Spaenle, the State Minister of Education and Culture, Science and Art, and Chairman of Haus der Kunst’s Supervisory Board, emphasizes: “The commitment of Dr. Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek is paradigmatic in terms of civic engagement in Bavaria. Such devotion to supporting the Arts is an incredibly important factor for our country. This outstanding cultural patronage will help us significantly to continue to lead this worldwide renowned institution on the highest level.” Beyond its substantial support, the foundation has in recent years also funded the photographic exhibitions of artists Stan Douglas and James Casebere.

Founded by Alexander Tutsek and Dr. Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek as a non-profit foundation in December 2000, the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung promotes the arts and sciences. Their collection activities focus on presenting the diversity of contemporary artistic expression in the mediums of glass and photography. A second emphasis is on the advancement of research in the engineering sciences in the fields of glass, ceramics, rocks and soils within the engineering sciences. The foundation headquarters are housed in a former artist’s studio located in an Art Nouveau villa in Munich-Schwabing, where exhibitions devoted to innovative themes are regularly presented. As part of its program spanning art and science, the foundation is deeply committed to the particular and exceptional or even to that which is neglected and overlooked.

Reflecting her decision to support Haus der Kunst, Dr. Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek, Chairwoman of the Foundation, says: „Based on its exceptional work in the last years, Haus der Kunst has earned an outstanding reputation as one of the leading cultural centers in the world of contemporary art. Our support is designed to enable Haus der Kunst to further exploit and expand its innovative approach. The funds provided by us are dedicated exclusively to the artistic program including public and educational programs, as well as the research activities. I am delighted that our foundation will contribute to the continued success of Haus der Kunst in the coming years.”

PRESS CONTACT: Horst Koppelstätter
Koppelstätter Media GmbH
Friedrichstr. 2, 76530 Baden-Baden, Tel: 07221/97372-11, Fax: 07221/97372-22
hok@koppelstaetter-media.de

The Photographs of Matthieu Gafsou
The photographs come from the project „Only God Can Judge Me“ by the Swiss photographer Matthieu Gafsou. He took photographs in Lausanne’s drug scene for more than a year. By using various formal approaches, he prosaically and at the same time emphatically documented the life of addicts. His dignified portraits of longtime drug abusers with their sharp-featured faces stirringly personalize a social problem. With still lifes he captured their contradictory living environment. Hard documentary close-ups of drug packets, drug paraphernalia, aseptic drug consumption rooms, surveillance cameras, etc. provide a direct impression of the addicts’ daily struggle for survival. By contrast, Gafsou’s poetic photographs of the scene’s nocturnal showplaces allow viewers to intuit the desirable sides of the high.

Matthieu Gafsou (born 1981) studied photography at the School of Applied Arts in Vevey and graduated from the University of Lausanne with a master’s degree. His photographs have been shown in various solo and group exhibitions in the USA and Europe and are represented in numerous collections. In 2009, he received the „Prix de la foundation HSBC pour la photographie“. He lives in Lausanne and teaches at the University of Art and Design.

Sculptures Made of Glass and Mixed Media
International artists use another material for their sculptures to interpret the subject of the exhibition: glass as well as mixed media. In the hands of the artists the material glass — so familiar to us from our everyday life — transforms into a many layered, sometimes unexpected medium. With its complexities and capacity to provide insight into various levels, the material glass in particular is predestined to emphatically present the dark sides of life.

The dark blue glass sea measuring one meter (Maria Lugossy) and an ossified seated figure (Janusz Walentynowicz) abstract the deep valley of depression. HIV and Ebola glass viruses that viewers can look inside of address the fear of dangerous diseases (Luke Jerram). A young fox dressed in girls’ clothes dramatically illustrates the emotional as well as bodily damages that children and adolescents may suffer (Silvia Levenson). An installation of bottle halves measuring 2,50 meters emphatically points up the hopelessness of trying to solve problems with addictive substances (Mona Hatoum). The work of a Japanese artist (Shige Fujishiro) draws attention to the problem of street people with an artful caricature of a Chanel shopping bag made of glass beads.

Munich, May 2016

INFORMATION
EXHIBITION TITLE: LIFE IS NOT A BEACH
Duration of the exhibition: 22 January 2016 to 24 June 2016, extended until 2 September 2016
Opening hours: Tuesdays to Fridays 2 to 6 pm, closed on holidays.

Kehrer Verlag published a book on Matthieu Gafou’s project:
Matthieu Gafsou, Only God Can Judge Me, € 39.90.

Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung
Karl-Theodor-Straße 27
80803 München
Tel. +49 (0)89 – 55 27 30 60
info@atstiftung.de
www.atstiftung.de

Ann Wolff explains that the material glass is actually invisible. This offers artists the chance to create spaces to look into, spaces where something can emerge that actually doesn’t exist. Only the material glass has this characteristic and that is what fascinates the artist. Glass plays a central role for most of her large-scale sculptures but the artist Ann Wolff does not restrict herself to this medium. She also employs other materials such as bronze, concrete, stone, or aluminum. The recently completed, large aluminum sculpture Mold is thus a special highlight in the exhibition.

The thirty objects selected for the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung exhibition provide a comprehensive overview of the last ten years of Ann Wolff’s work. Supplementing the exhibition is a selection of her charcoal and pastel drawings. Common to all is the motif of the character mask, giving the exhibition its title Persona. The subject explores the philosophical and existential questions that have always interested the artist. They are the fundamental driving force for her work. In this creative process the rational conceptualization enters into a dialog with the physical experience during production. Viewers can intuit the process that has impelled Ann Wolff’s work all her life, letting them experience her sculptures very intensely.

Ann Wolff, born in Lübeck, Germany in 1937, studied at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm and then worked as a designer in Sweden. In the late 1970s, she started working as a freelance artist with her own studio. From 1993 to 1998, Ann Wolff was a professor at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg. Today she lives and works as a freelance artist in Sweden.

For her etched and engraved glass collages, Ann Wolff won the then newly introduced, and today very renowned, Coburg Glass Prize in 1977. Her numerous international awards include the Bayerischer Staatspreis (1988), the Jurors Award of the Toledo Museum of Art (2005), and the European Culture Prize (2011). Ann Wolff’s work is represented in many public collections and museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art in Sapporo, and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

Munich, July 2015

A catalog was published in conjunction with the exhibition.

Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek
Ann Wolff PERSONA
With contributions by Mark Gisbourne and Klaus Weschenfelder.
Stuttgart: Arnoldsche Art Publishers, 2014.
120 pages, 100 color illustrations.
Hardcover. English and German. € 29.80
ISBN 978-3-89790-416-3

INFORMATION
EXHIBITION TITLE: ANN WOLFF PERSONA
Opening: 16 October 2014
Duration of the exhibition: 17 October 2014 to 12 June 2015, extended until 14 August 2015
Opening hours: Tuesdays and Wednesdays 10 am to 2 pm,
Thursdays and Fridays 2 to 6 pm, closed on holidays.

Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung
Karl-Theodor-Straße 27
80803 Munich
Tel. +49-(0)89-343856

info@atstiftung.de
www.atstiftung.de

PORTRAIT HEADS
Characteristic of Erwin Eisch’s approach to his work is the critical analysis of his environment.
With his very own poetic perspective and the humor with which he alienates everyday things, he questions the familiar and forces changed perceptions. The impressive series of large portrait heads are the focus of the exhibition. Their message goes beyond that of portraits and shows his special view of his contemporaries, celebrities, as well as of himself in his self-portraits. Blown of glass and painted in such a manner that viewers can only just intuit the original material, they convey an impression of Eisch’s innovative sculptural and painterly language.

EARLY WORKS
As early as the 1950s, Erwin Eisch experimented with the material glass at his family’s glass furnace. As son of a glassmaking family and graduate of the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, Eisch regarded the glassmaking tradition critically. In contrast to the typical production of utility glass in the Bavarian Forest, Erwin Eisch developed non-functional objects alienated from any purpose, often containing a touch of irony. These early works, another area the exhibition focuses on, are relatively little known since they are rarely on view. The free-formed objects on different themes of everyday life, entitled „Provokation der Form“ (Provocation of Form), allow important insights into Eisch’s artistic thinking. He emphasizes the plastic qualities of the material glass during the process of melting and solidifying; he uses glass not in the traditional language of form but as sculptural carrier of his artistic message.

THE START OF THE STUDIO-GLASS MOVEMENT
Harvey K. Littleton, an American ceramic professor, discovered Eisch’s innovative sculptures when he was traveling in Europe seeking new artistic ways of working with glass. He visited Erwin Eisch in 1962. Thus began the lifelong creative friendship and a productive artistic exchange in the area of glass between USA and Europe. The encounter between Eisch and Little is today considered one of the important impulses for the international studio-glass movement.

COLORFUL STUDENT YEARS
The third area the current exhibition reviews is Erwin Eisch’s and his later wife Gretel’s colorful period at the art academy in Munich. While he was still a student, Eisch became a founding member of the SPUR group in 1957 and a few years later formed the notorious group RADAMA. In a gallery in Schwabing, RADAMA staged an event that provoked the Munich art scene in 1961: A memorial exhibition about the fictional painter Bolus Krim. With the help of newspaper articles and other documents, sculptures and paintings from the period, the present exhibition revives a project that excited considerable press attention in all of Germany at the time.

Munich, August 2013

INFORMATION
WHERE ARE YOU? SCULPTURES BY ERWIN EISCH
Duration of the exhibition: 15 October 2013 to 10 April 2014
Opening hours: Tuesdays and Wednesdays 10 am to 2 pm
Thursdays and Fridays 2 to 6 pm (closed on holidays)

Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung
Karl-Theodor-Str. 27
80803 Munich
Tel. +49-89-343856
Fax  +49-89-342876
info@atutsek-stiftung.de
www.atutsek-stiftung.de

THE MATERIAL GLASS IN ART
Glass is one of the interest areas of the young and dynamic foundation that is now ten years old and that likes to seize on the unusual. Glass in art goes back a long way to, for instance, the non-functional vases by Emile Gallé or Daum. The material experienced a dramatic change with the so-called studio-glass movement, which celebrates its fiftieth anniversary in 2012: Away from forms such as vases or bowls and towards many-layered messages. The medium glass has developed—unnoticed by many—into an independent area of art.

THE FACETS OF LOVE IN THE EXHIBITION
The exhibition shows objects by well-known international artists but visitors will also discover young and in Europe still unknown talents. Especially the latter use the material glass freely in combination with other materials such as branches, fabric, photography, or wire mesh to feel out the light and dark sides of love. For example, the wings the young Canadians Tanya Lyons & Mathieu Grodet sewed together of many parts. They convey the elation love can arouse but also remind of the danger of getting burned.

In the “Land of Poets and Thinkers,” complicated themes apparently continue to concern men and women artists. Numerous emotionally poignant works represent these artists from the north of Germany to the south. They drastically demonstrate the cruel power of love to destroy hearts (Ariane Forkel) or even to rip them out (Simone Fezer). Franz X. Höller’s smoothly polished red couple standing side by side conveys that love in partnerships makes demands and that compromises establish good partnerships. The objects by Christiane Budig and Sybille Peretti reveal touching aspects of the very special affection between siblings.

The specific mother-and-child love relationship is one of the predominant themes of the large disturbing sculptures by Christina Bothwell (USA). At the same time, they imply the danger of a love too big, which—represented by an octopus—embraces and crushes everything. The glass HIV focuses on the dark sides of sexual and romantic love and in this context reminds us to be charitable in our dealings with the sick (Luke Jerram). There are objects from Israel and New Zealand as well as from China and Japan. Lino Tagliapietra, the great and venerated mentor of many artists, devotes himself to the love of one’s home country, with colorful and profound reflections on the water of Venice.

Munich, November 2011

INFORMATION
IN THE NAME OF LOVE | IM NAMEN DER LIEBE
Duration of the exhibition: 7 February to 7 November 2012
Opening hours: Tuesdays and Wednesdays 10 am to 2 pm
Thursdays 2 to 5.30 pm (closed on holidays)

Catalogue
Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek, IN THE NAME OF LOVE
Foreword by F. Hufnagel, contributions by E.-M. Fahrner-Tutsek and C. Schack von Wittenau. Hardcover, English and German, 112 color plates
Kerber Verlag, 2012. ISBN 978-3-86678-589-2

Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung
Karl-Theodor-Str. 27
80803 Munich
Tel. +49-89-343856
Fax  +49-89-342876
info@atutsek-stiftung.de
www.atutsek-stiftung.de

THE SCULPTURES BY JENS GUSSEK
Jens Gussek, born in Glachau, Germany (formerly East Germany) in 1964, studied at the Hochschule für Kunst und Design Burg Giebichenstein in Halle (Saale) and has been teaching there since 2001. Several grants led the artist to the USA. His in part delicate, in part compact and archaically fashioned objects and installations of glass and mixed media poetically reflect his metaphoric themes. Two delicate bowls connected by a narrow band he calls Islands of Love.

Gussek robs things of daily life—right up to ships—of their former function. A war ship of gleaming metal pulls three large blue blown glass balls and carries the title Dreams Behind Me.  A small wood camel seems to want to move a huge pyramid made of black glass balls. This profound game, breaking up the familiar and showing it from a different perspective, also characterizes the artistic photographs of Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY EVA-MARIA FAHRNER-TUTSEK
The exhibited photographs have just been published in an illustrated book by Kerber Verlag. Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek took them mostly on the islands of Ibiza and Formentera over the past two to three years. The African continent is not far from here. The photographs reveal hidden emotions without necessarily wanting to attract attention. The psychologist shows in her photographs the world as it is but creates an atmosphere in which the everyday and the random have something irritating. She deliberately allows the viewers space.

She stands on this side of events and looks beyond the horizon of the infinite ocean of life, “where,” as she writes in the introduction of her book of photographs, “one might sense the stories that trigger feelings in and around us. Everywhere. Not only on the islands.”

Dr. Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek, born in Hamburg in 1952, started photographing with an old Kodak box camera when she was still going to school. After studying sociology, political science, and psychology and graduating with a diploma in psychology, she worked as a research psychologist at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, at the Technische Universität München, as well as at a private research institute. She has been chairwoman of the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung since she co-founded it in 2000. Besides managing and organizing research projects and scholarly publications, Fahrner-Tutsek continues to take photographs, photography always remaining an important means to explore the world in another way.

The exhibition This Side of Africa shows thirty serially hung photographs by Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek as well as ten sculptures and installations by Jens Gussek.

Munich, January 2011

INFORMATION:
THIS SIDE OF AFRICA
29 March to 28 July 2011
Tuesdays and Wednesdays 10 am to 1.30 pm, Thursdays 10 am to 5 pm (except on holidays)

Publication:
Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek, Diesseits von Afrika / This Side of Africa. Kerber Verlag, 2011. ISBN 978-3-86678-468-0

Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung
Karl-Theodor-Str. 27
80803 Munich
Tel. +49-89-343856
Fax  +49-89-342876
info@atutsek-stiftung.de
www.atutsek-stiftung.de

Press Contact
Ute Bauermeister
Koppelstätter Kommunikation GmbH
Friedrichstr. 2, 76530 Baden-Baden
Tel. +49-7221-97372-15
Fax  +49-7221-97372-22
bauermeister@koppelstaetter-kommunikation.de

TENSION AND REST
Frozen-in Tension relates the different positions of various artists to one another. It shows how diversely the states of tension and rest can be made tangible. The specific selection of exhibits lets viewers experience the dialectic of tension and rest – regardless of the actual themes of the works.

There is no life without tension. “We seek tension and we need it,” says Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek, Chair of the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung. Everyone uses physical tensions like electric and mechanical force fields every day. “Mental strain, activating the nervous system, helps us to cope with many tasks. Human relations would be empty without emotional tension,” Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek explains. Tension activates our life and makes it more exciting. Tension, however – no matter whether it is physical, corporal, social, or aesthetic – is only then tension when another state provides the opposite pole. Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek, “There can be no tension without relaxation, rest, dissolution, or disassociation.”

MASTERPIECES BY LIBENSKÝ AND BRYCHTOVÁ
Two significant sculptures of cast glass by the great Czech artists Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová are the conceptual starting point of the exhibition. They gave sculpture a new dimension and are thus considered the most important artists of the twentieth century in connection with the material glass. They became famous through the presentation of their works at the world exhibitions in Brussels, Montreal, and Osaka but also as teachers and supporters of many artists. Beginning with their works, the exhibition at the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung shows three generations of artists: From personalities such as Tessa Clegg, Bohumil Eliás, Ales Vasicek, Janusz Walentynowichz, and Ann Wolff to the middle generation – represented by such artists as Josepha Gasch-Muche, Katherine Coleman, and Udo Zembok – to the works of younger artists. The latter include Jessica Loughlin, Masayo Oda, Wilken Skurk and students with their new, very promising approaches. The exhibition shows new discoveries in the glass scene as well as individual installations by Bruna Esposito from Italy and Sunny Wang from Hong Kong.

PHOTOGRAPHS LIKE STILL LIFES: WORKS BY JESSICA BACKHAUS
The photographs by Jessica Backhaus show the theme treated in a different medium and thus enter into a surprising dialogue with the glass sculptures. The poetic and sometimes melancholy photographs by Backhaus radiate tension and restfulness in their own way.

Jessica Backhaus, who has just moved to Berlin, lived and worked for a long time in Paris and New York. In her works, the German artist addresses the transitoriness of life but also people’s dreams and hopes. Her works are often reminiscent of still lifes. Everyday things found by chance tell their story without appearing to have been staged. Exhibitions with her works were on view for example at the National Portrait Gallery in London and at the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin. Jessica Backhaus has published numerous photographic books. The exhibition shows photographs from the series“What Still Remains” and “One Day in November”.

THE ALEXANDER TUTSEK-STIFTUNG: CONTEMPORARY GLASS OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY
The Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung supports art and science. Alexander Tutsek and Dr. Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek established this non-profit foundation in December 2000 with the following two areas of emphasis:

Glass and photography in view of art: The material glass has developed into an interesting realm in recent decades. Artists address subtle abstract themes that are not so easily expressed with other media. Sculptures with ambiguous messages replace applied forms such as vases or bowls. One of the foundation’s aims is to create a larger circle of connoisseurs for special forms of expression in art such as contemporary glass and, since 2008, modern photography.

The second main area is engineering sciences in the focus of research: The foundation is interested in supporting particular disciplines within the engineering sciences as well as special interdisciplinary projects.

Important goals of the foundation are the support of artists as well as building up a high-quality collection of contemporary glass and photography. The collection covers as broad a spectrum of the current tendencies as possible, represented by works of internationally recognized artists but also young talents.

Munich, February 2010

INFORMATION
FROZEN-IN TENSION
29 April 2010 to 27 January 2011
Tuesday and Wednesday 10 am to 1.30 pm
Thursday 10 am to 5 pm

Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung
Karl-Theodor-Str. 27
80803 Munich
Tel. +49-89-343856
Fax +49-89-342876
info@atutsek-stiftung.de
www.atutsek-stiftung.de

Press Contact
Horst Koppelstätter
Koppelstätter Kommunikation GmbH
Friedrichstr. 2, 76530 Baden-Baden
Tel. +49-7221-97372-11
hok@koppelstaetter-kommunikation.de

China is worldwide the biggest producer of industrial glass but art works in the medium glass are known at best from the Qing Dynasty in the seventeenth century. What happens in a country like China that takes a new focus on culture? The art market booms and has taken on an almost explosive dynamic within just a few years. Contemporary glass, in contrast, is still completely unknown. But much is happening here – even if it is not yet known. On her trip to China, Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek, Chair of the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung, discovered first works of the present. The idea for an exhibition in Munich was born.

On subsequent trips to China, Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek followed up with detective-like research during many personal encounters and conversations with artists, art professors, and art dealers. Her first impression was confirmed: Contemporary glass is an absolute rarity on the Chinese art market.

Chinese contemporary glass is considered by experts as one of the most exciting fields of our times. The renowned Time Magazine dedicated an article only recently on the phenomenon of contemporary glass in China and pointed out the considerable number of young talented artists. Eva Maria Fahrner Tutsek: “I would like to contribute by bringing these new art works out of the dark and making them well-known in the West.”

A NEW ARTISTIC DEPARTURE
A cross section of this exciting and for the most part still unknown artistic departure is now on view in Munich: Glass.China shows recent works, which were made mostly in the past two years, and thus brings these new discoveries to Germany.

Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek: “The use of glass as a medium is new in Chinese art. Chinese culture is searching for impulses in the western world. It does not, however, copy these. Instead it uses them as a source of inspiration and interprets them with its own handwriting. The young generation of artists combines the new with old Chinese traditions. The statement and the symbolism are the main focus.”

The American art expert Susanne Frantz makes an in-depth analysis of the development of contemporary glass in China in the catalogue being published in conjunction with the exhibition. Susanne Frantz: “When speaking with the members of China’s glass community, one still feels an excitement and enthusiasm that has waned in other Studio Glass locales. There is also a sense of urgency – to catch up and to grow – not only technically, but also philosophically. Just when we thought that we had seen everything, another chapter is being written in he history of glass.“

MAKING THE ESSENTIAL VISIBLE:
Photographic Works by Ulrike Ottinger
The large works from China by the film artist and photographer Ulrike Ottinger are the first photographs shown by the Alexander Tutsek Stiftung. The poetic photo works by Ottinger provide a stark contrast to the commonly known China photography. She develops a dialogue with the sculptures by young Chinese artists.

Ulrike Ottinger, who lives in Berlin, is considered one of Germany’s most high-profile filmmakers. She has received numerous prizes for her works, including the prize by German film critics for Prater as the best documentary last year. At the same time she is working on several photo projects.

THE FOUNDATION:
Contemporary Glass of the Highest Quality
The Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung was founded in Munich in December 2002. The background: When Alexander Tutsek and his wife Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek – who had both always been enthusiastic about the material glass – started building up their private collection of studio glass, they quickly realized that this medium had not yet found its place in the art world. Studio glass is a young art form that is not yet popular here – in contrast to the art scene in America and in some European countries.

With the goal of supporting contemporary glass and on the basis of their own professional experience, they developed the wish to support scientific research in areas such as glass, ceramics, stones, and earths.

An important area the foundation is working on is the development of a high-quality collection of contemporary glass and new this year – photography. The collection encompasses as wide as possible a range of the predominant contemporary movements, represented by works by internationally renowned artists.

Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek: “Only when a broader public is aware of the artistic possibilities inherent in glass and a market similar to that in the USA develops, only then can studio glass in Germany grow out of the local dimension and really flourish as an art form in Europe.”

CATALOGUE IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE EXHIBITION:

E.-M. Fahrner-Tutsek, Glass.China (2009). Edition EMF published by Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung. English and German edition with contributions by Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek, Susanne Frantz, Xue Lue, and Katharina Sykora. 146 pages, 60 color plates. EUR 24.00.
ISBN 978-3-7220-02-4
INFORMATION:

„Glass.China“
7 November 2008 to 7 November 2009
Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung
Karl-Theodor-Str. 27
80803 München
Germany
Tel. +49-89-343856
Fax +49-89-342876
info@atutsek-stiftung.de
www.atutsek-stiftung.de

Tuesdays to Thursdays 10 am – 1.30 pm and by appointment.

Chairwoman Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek says: “The quest is for human beings one of the motivating forces for the spiritual, intellectual and technical development of humankind. The quest for that which is distant, for the other, for freedom, truth, new or strong feelings, transcendental moments, as well as for happiness are the essential motifs that determine life and life’s journey.”

QUEST AND YEARNING
The exhibition title Und immer sehnt sich fort das Herz, taken from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s East-West Divan, expresses humankind’s constant quest very poetically. Glass, a material that is not yet well known in modern art, conveys this theme in a very special way.
Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek: “Although glass is something commonplace for us – we can hardly imagine our lifestyle today without glass – it has had something very magical throughout the millennia. Glass is sensuous. Depending on how it has been made, glass feels completely smooth and cool, it can be rough and can injure, or it can be as soft as velvet.”

Compared to other media such as ceramics, metal, stone, synthetics, or the virtual images that dominate modern art increasingly, glass has a special quality, an additional dimension – its optical depth. Alternating between clear, opaque, translucent, colored, cut, and uncut glass, artists have infinite possibilities to allow different perceptions and perspectives.”

NEW WAYS
The exhibition title indicates the long way that art with glass has taken in the last few decades since leaving behind functional forms such as vases or bowls. Subjects like this would have been unthinkable just a little while ago. Today’s tendencies show that not only have artists accepted glass as a medium but glass has also developed into an independent form of art. The objects make multilayered statements today. Subtle, abstract, transcendental, or mythological ideas and subjects are important. The individual objects in the exhibition give rise to inner stories and illustrate that artists are venturing into new thematic and emotional realms.

CONTEMPORARY GLASS IS STILL UNKNOWN
The Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung was founded in Munich in December 2000. When Alexander Tutsek and his wife Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek, who had both always been enthusiastic about the material glass, started building up their private collection of studio glass, it quickly became clear to them that this material has not yet found its place in art. Studio glass, a young form of glass, is not yet as popular here as in the art scene in America or in some other European countries.

With the goal of supporting contemporary glass and due to their professional experience, the couple aspires to support scientific research, particularly in the areas of glass, ceramics, stones, and industrial minerals.

An important task the foundation has set itself is to build up a top-class collection of contemporary glass. The collection covers as broad a spectrum of the current movements in studio glass as possible, represented by works of well-known international artists. Contemporary glass from Germany sets a special accent.

Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek: “Only when a wider public recognizes the artistic potential in glass and when a market comparable to that in the USA develops can studio glass in Germany grow beyond its local dimensions and really flourish as a form of art in Europe.
Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung
Karl-Theodor-Straße 27
80803 Munich

Tel: +49-89-343856
Fax: +49-89-342876
info@atutsek-stiftung.de
www.atutsek-stiftung.de

Tuesday to Thursday 10 am to 1.30 pm and by appointment

Press Contact
Horst Koppelstätter
Koppelstätter Kommunikation GmbH
Friedrichstraße 2, 76530 Baden-Baden
Tel: +49-7221-97372-0
Fax: +49-7221-97372-22
hok@koppelstaetter-kommunikation.de

With the first two exhibitions, the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung focused on different countries, proving that glass has now become an art genre with a global character. The third exhibition with the explicit subject The face – lost and found again, will present the manifold aspects and appearances of the human face, our privileged instrument of expression. The face defines us as individuals, with it we express our different feelings and we communicate with it. It is thus an interface that can be experienced between our inner life and the outside world. Since the very beginnings of art and as far as we know, art has made use of this type of projection. The face represents one of the most important elements in art to fathom the boundary between expression and psyche, surface and depth.

With the 35 glass sculptures shown in the exhibition, the visitor gains an insight into the character of the collection being currently built up, but is also given an overview of the central positions of contemporary work with glass. The exhibits underline that the language of glass and sculpture has its own laws in comparison with painting. The exhibited artists use the medium glass as a tool, as a means to an end and they prove

that glass does not necessarily have to please the beholder – as it is usually expected from this material.

Internationally renowned artists from the studio glass scene
After the face was faded out in studio glass for a long period of time (and not only in this art genre), it returned with the heads of Erwin Eisch (Germany). In his series of portraits the painting on direct, plastic heads made of blown glass carries their very specific and symbolic statement. Mark Bokesch-Parsons (England/USA) is represented with one of his impressive heads, reflecting inside secrets and dreams. The morbid female sculptures created by Janusz Walentynowicz (USA/Denmark) show an own, different type of contemporary sculpture with their faces lost in reverie. Sibylle Peretti’s (Germany) portrayals of damaged youth touch one deeply. The faces shown like a comic strip on Scott Chaseling’s (Australia) technically innovative vessels depict metaphoric scenes of the daily life. Karen LaMonte (USA) fathoms strong emotions on reflections frozen in glass. Further artists are among others: A. Forkel, P. Martinuzzi, G. Ribka, Ch. Schmidt, E. Utriainen, A. Wolff (Germany), H. M. Adams, R. C. Palusky, C. Rainey (USA), J. Exnar, D. Zamechnikova (Czech Republic), D. Reekie, A. Kinnaird (GB), R. Meitner (Netherlands), M. Odahashi (Japan), B. Vallien (Sweden).

The exhibtion’s catalogue
Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek

The face – lost and found again
Katalog zwei. Glas der Gegenwart Contemporary Glass

Edition EMF published by the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung, München 2006
German/English edition 112 pages, 82 color photos, paperback
ISBN 3-937220-01-1, Euro 24.- / USD 30.-

INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED ARTITSTS FROM THE STUDIO GLASS SCENE WITH THE FOCUS ON AUSTRALIA, GREAT BRITAIN AND THE USA
One of the famous artists from the USA, Dale Chihuly, can be seen with a piece of his work which has so far not been exhibited that much, a “Jerusalem Cylinder”. Mark Bokesch-Parsons, an Englishman living in Illinois, is represented with one of his impressive heads, reflecting inside secrets and dreams. The morbid female sculptures created by Janusz Walentynowicz show an own, different type of contemporary sculpture. Other artists working in America and being represented in Europe rather scarcely such as José Chardiet, Steven Weinberg, Leah Camille Wingfield and Paul Seide with his light objects will be shown in this exhibition.

Among other objects from Australia the visitor will also come across the rather delicate works of Kristie Rea and Jessica Loughlin, which have been inspired by the Australian landscape. Scott Chaseling depicts metaphoric scenes of the daily life on his technically innovative vessels.

Further internationally renowned artists such as Tessa Clegg, Clifford Rainey and David Reekie represent Great Britain. The impressive large-size light-glass-installation “Streetwise” created by Alison Kinnaird (Scotland) and recently bought by the foundation will be presented for the first time. Abstract and figurative elements are combined with each other in a nocturnal street scene, with their poetic as well as threatening spirit becoming vivid by the special optical fiber glass lighting.

CATALOGUE
A catalogue has been published for the exhibitions Glass – A New Experience [1] and [2].

Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek
Katalog eins
Glas der Gegenwart Contemporary Gass
ISBN 3-937220-00-3, German/English edition
with contributions from Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek, Florian Hufnagl, Helmut Ricke and photographs from Hans-Jürgen Becker
2004, Edition EMF published by the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung
126 pages, 96 color photos, paperback, 24,5 x 24,5 cm
Euro 24,-

The press photos on CD as well as the catalogue will be sent to you upon request.
The press release and the photos can also be downloaded from our website.

PRESS CONTACT:
HORST KOPPELSTÄTTER
Koppelstätter Kommunikation GmbH
Friedrichstraße 2
76530 Baden-Baden | Germany

Phone: +49-7221-97372-0
Fax: +49-7221-97372-22
E-Mail: hok@koppelstaetter-kommunikation.de

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
WHAT IS STUDIO GLASS?
Studio glass is a young direction in art, which experienced a real upswing in the sixties when the small melting furnace was invented for the studios. The artists were thus given the technical possibility to form their own glass to pieces of art free from any function or purpose and to work independently from large furnaces of glass manufacturers and industrial production methods. Up to this time they were only able to design their glass sculptures (as Picasso did for example) and had to leave the final making in the hands of a glassmaker. By processing glass themselves, the artists were able to develop this material and to lead it away from conventional vessels to more abstract forms with a higher individuality. The material glass thus set off to be an own and individual form of art.

GLASS – A SPECIAL MATERIAL
Compared to other materials such as ceramic, metals, stone, plastic, or virtual images, which are becoming increasingly prevalent in modern art, glass has a special quality, an added dimension: optical depth. It is based on the perception itself, and is not a result of sensorial memory or a mental act. By alternating clear, opaque, translucent, colored, polished and unpolished glass, artists have endless possibilities in creating different perceptions and views.

Studio glass thrives on the optical multi-dimensionality and multi-layers of the levels, but also on the multifaceted forms and surface structures. The visual perception is enhanced by the tactile experience: depending on how it is processed, glass can feel completely smooth and cool, rough, or soft as silk. And in addition, there is the preciously mentioned relationship with light: the interplay of light and color, surface and detail structures, as well as a deeper spatial dimension encourages visual, emotional, and physical discovery.

STUDIO GLASS – A NEW AND INTERESTING FORM OF ART
The objects presented show clearly that studio glass “today is not only a very individual and fascinating branch of the large international art movements“ (Ricke) but also a form of art, which enriches and widens our way of perception by new, surprising and aesthetic categories.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
THE ALEXANDER TUTSEK-STIFTUNG
The Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung was founded in Munich, Germany in December 2000. The background was: when Alexander Tutsek and his wife Dr. Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek – both of them always having been fascinated by glass – started to build up their private collection of studio glass, they quickly realized that this material had not yet found a foothold in the fine arts in Germany. Studio glass – a young form of art, is relatively unknown here, quite in contrast to the art scene in America and some European countries. Artists working with glass hardly find any promotion or financial aid and only a few institutions offer good courses. In America however, museums for modern art show breathtaking glass objects. There, even new museums were built for contemporary glass art in the last few years.
Based on their own professional experience and apart from the goal of lending support to contemporary glass art came the desire to promote research in the engineering sciences, with a special emphasis on glass, ceramics, stone and industrial minerals. These special fields are “secondary fields” of engineering technology – like studio glass – and are rather neglected at the universities.

THE COLLECTION
At the moment the primary task of the foundation is to build up a first-class collection for studio glass sculptures. It comprises a wide spectrum of the current trends in studio glass, representing internationally renowned artists, with a focus on German studio glass artists. Apart from exhibiting “established” artists, another task of the foundation is to promote younger and less known artists by buying their objects and making them thus known to the public.

EXHIBITIONS
In Germany, artists hardly have a forum and the public has only a few possibilities to get to know this form of art. Regular exhibitions shall present studio glass to a larger audience. Glass art can only step out of its niche and studio glass can only really flourish within Europe as an art form after having been presented to a larger audience and a respective market can thus develop.

INFORMATION
Address
Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung
Karl-Theodor-Straße 27
80803 München | Germany

Contact
Phone: +49-89-343856
Fax: +49-89-342876
info@atutsek-stiftung.de
www.atutsek-stiftung.de

Press preview
by appointment

Opening
June 9, 2005   6.00 pm

Duration of exhibition
June 10 to November 30, 2005

Opening ours
Tuesday to Thursday 10 am to 1.30 pm and by appointment

Public transport
Subway to the stops Münchner Freiheit or Bonner Platz

INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS WITH A FOCUS ON CZECH WORKS
The selection will give an overall view of the Studio Glass movement, which is still quite unknown in Germany. The exhibits have been made by artists from Western and Eastern Europe, the USA, Australia and Japan. Dale Chihuly (USA), Erwin Eisch (Germany), Stanislav Libensky & Jaroslava Brychtová (Tschechien) are among these artists. They are already considered classics in glass art. The first exhibition comprises two parts. The first part will mainly focus on Czech artists. The second part, which will be exhibited in 2005, will concentrate on works of American and Australian artists.

THE EXHIBITION’S CATALOGUE
A catalogue excellently designed and published in a German/English edition shows more than 40 Studio Glass sculptures photographed in a masterly manner. Experts like Prof. Dr. Florian Hufnagl (Neue Sammlung, München) and Dr. Helmut Ricke (museum kunstpalast and Glasmuseum Hentrich, Düsseldorf) discuss the development and perception of the medium glass in their contributions.

The catalogue can be bought at bookstores or be ordered directly at the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung (plus postage) under info@atutsekstiftung.de

Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek
Katalog eins
Glas der Gegenwart Contemporary Gass
ISBN 3-937220-00-3, German/English edition
with contributions from Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek, Florian Hufnagl, Helmut Ricke and photographs from Hans-Jürgen Becker
2004, Edition EMF published by the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung
126 pages, 96 color photos, paperback, 24.5 x 24.5 cm
Euro 24.- / USD 30.-

The press photos on CD as well as the catalogue will be sent to you upon request.
The press release and the photos can also be downloaded from our website.

PRESS CONTACT:
HORST KOPPELSTÄTTER
Koppelstätter Kommunikation GmbH
Friedrichstraße 2
76530 Baden-Baden | Germany

Phone +49-7221-97372-0
Fax: +49-7221-97372-22
E-Mail: hok@koppelstaetter-kommunikation.de

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
WHAT IS STUDIO GLASS?
Studio Glass is a young direction in art, which started in the sixties when the small melting furnace was invented for the studios. The artists were thus given the technical possibility to form their own glass to pieces of art free from any function or purpose and to work independently from large furnaces of glass manufacturers and industrial production methods. Up to this time they were only able to design their glass sculptures (as Picasso did for example) and had to leave the final making in the hands of a glassmaker. By processing glass themselves, the artists were able to develop this material and to lead it away from conventional vessels to more abstract forms with a higher individuality. The material glass thus set off to be an own and individual form of art.

GLASS – A SPECIAL MATERIAL
Compared to other materials such as ceramic, metals, stone, plastic, or virtual images, which are becoming increasingly prevalent in modern art, glass has a special quality, an added dimension: optical depth. It is based on the perception itself, and is not a result of sensorial memory or a mental act. By alternating clear, opaque, translucent, colored, polished and unpolished glass, artists have succeeded in creating different perceptions and views.

Studio Glass thrives on the optical multi-dimensionality and multi-layers of the levels, but also on the multifaceted forms and surface structures. The visual perception is enhanced by the tactile experience: depending on how it is processed, glass can feel completely smooth and cool, rough, or soft as silk. And in addition there is the preciously mentioned relationship with light: the interplay of light and color, surface and detail structures, as well as a deeper spatial dimension encourages visual, emotional, and physical discovery.

STUDIO GLASS – A NEW AND INTERESTING FORM OF ART
The exhibits show clearly that Studio Glass “today is not only a very individual and fascinating branch of the large international art movements“ (Ricke) but also a form of art which enriches and widens our way of perception by new, surprising and aesthetic categories.

INFORMATION

Address
Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung
Karl-Theodor-Straße 27
80803 München | Germany

Contact
Phone +49-89-343856
Fax +49-89-342876
info@atutsek-stiftung.de
www.atutsek-stiftung.de

Press preview
by appointment

Opening
May 12, 2004   6.00 pm

Duration of exhibition
May 14 to November 14, 2004

Opening ours
Tuesday to Thursday 10 am to 1.30 pm and by appointment

Public transport
Subway to the stops Münchner Freiheit or Bonner Platz