Ayse Erkmen
Christa Naher
Hermann Nitsch
Heimo Zobernig
Tobias Rehberger
Michael Krebber
Thomas Bayrle
Thomas Zipp
Kirsten Pieroth
Simon Dybbroe Moller
Sergej Jensen
Nora Schultz
Martin Neumeier
Kerstin Cmelka
It takes something to make something. As the caretakers at the Stadelschule, the Rausch's have been collecting works by student and teachers at this school for 14 years. Their collection now comprises almost 400 paintings, drawings, photographs, objects, and videos by more than 200 students, graduates, and professors. Internationally renowned artists such as Ayse Erkmen, Christa Naher, Hermann Nitsch, Heimo Zobernig, Tobias Rehberger, Michael Krebber, and Thomas Bayrle are included in this unique panorama of contemporary art.
It takes something to make something
It is with great pleasure that the Portikus presents the
extraordinary collection of Helga and Hartmut Rausch
to a wider audience. As the caretakers at the Städelschule, the
Rausch’s have been collecting works by students
and teachers at this school for 14 years. Their collection now
comprises almost 400 paintings, drawings, photographs,
objects, and videos by more than 200 students, graduates, and
professors. Not bound by the rules of art-historical,
economic, or academic yardsticks, the collection came into being in
1993. Artists Thilo Heinzmann and Hans Petri
presented two works to Hartmut Rausch on the occasion of his 50th
birthday. The Rausch Collection is
founded on lasting friendships and continues to grow. The
caretakers’ apartment resembles an inexhaustible storehouse
of unique and highly contrasting works that reflect the artists’
cordial relationships with the Rausch’s. What makes the
collection unlike any other is that each individual work derives from
a personal story, a memory from everyday life at the
Städelschule, and from immediate lived experience.
In the last years, no other school of the arts in Germany has
educated more artists who went on to gain international recognition.
This fact is clearly visible in the large-scale exhibitions of the
summer of 2007, such as the show „Made in Germany“ in Hanover.
Many of its artists have graduated from the Städelschule, and the
viewer will discover more of their work in the Rausch Collection.
Internationally renowned artists such as Ayse Erkmen, Christa Näher,
Hermann Nitsch, Heimo Zobernig, Tobias Rehberger,
Michael Krebber, and Thomas Bayrle are included in this unique
panorama of contemporary art in Frankfurt, as are younger positions
such as Thomas Zipp, Kirsten Pieroth, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Sergej
Jensen, Nora Schultz, Martin Neumeier, and Kerstin Cmelka,
to name only a few. In the 20th year of its existence, the Portikus
is also using the opportunity of this show to present an immediate
portrait of its artistic environment during the past two decades.
Accompanying the exhibition at the Portikus, a book of ca. 400 pages
has been published by Buchhandlung Walther König. The exhibition and the collection catalogue were generously supported
by the Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research,
and the Arts, and by the Department of Culture of the City of
Frankfurt am Main.
Opening: July 13, 2007, 8 pm
Portikus
Alte Brucke 2 - Frankfurt