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14/4/2008

Art Cologne 2008

KoelnMesse, Koln

ART COLOGNE's success story goes on and on. With forty years behind it, the fair is still setting the pace for fine art fairs worldwide. Continually improving on its own high standards of excellence, ART COLOGNE is the unrivalled market leader in the presentation of artworks. For six days the fair brings together 150 leading dealers drawn from dozens of different countries. ART COLOGNE showcases the very best that the international art market has to offer.

ART COLOGNE is designed to attract both the trade and the public. Every day sees crowds of collectors, curators, artists and art lovers thronging the aisles. ART COLOGNE's central location in Europe gives it a decisive competitive advantage. Cologne, a city long identified with the fine arts, is easily reached from all points of the compass. The Rhine-land and the Benelux countries possess the greatest density of art collectors and art lovers in the whole of Europe. Sales are tradítionally strong and business is always brisk.

ART COLOGNE 2008 supporting programme: "Global EurAsia":

An exhibition titled ‘Global EurAsia' is one of the highlights of the supporting programme at this year's ART COLOGNE (16 - 20 April). The exhibition showcases contemporary Asian and Western art in juxtaposition. It focusses on the impact of globalization in contemporary art and emphasizes where contemporary Asian and Western art interface. Dr. Renate Goldmann, one of the exhibition's curators, has, through her curatorial work in Asia and Europe, gained considerable experience of contemporary art in both cultures. She comments: ‘Thanks to modern technology, artists now enjoy unprecedented ease of access, both practically and intellectually, to what was previously little known and remote.' The exhibition is co-curated by Young Hee Lee from Seoul. The two curators have selected twenty-five artworks by Asian and Western artists dating from the late 1960s to the present day. Three key works are Joseph Beuys's Eurasienstab (1967-8), video installations by his friend Nam June Paik and - underscoring the interest of Western intellectuals in China - Andy Warhol's ‘Mao' portraits. ‘The international outlook of these three artists is alive and living today,' says Young Hee Lee. ‘ It's a hot topic in current debate in countries like China, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and India.'

Taking as a point of departure these works by Beuys, Paik and Warhol, the exhibition seeks to illustrate the symbolic, socio-political and communicative aspects of the impact of globalization on contemporary art down to the present day. Leiko Ikemura's Hasenfrau mit Miko (1997-8) is seemingly to be read as a symbol in metamorphosis and as an art-historical symbol of compatibility between Asia and the West. Similarly, Liang Shaoji's Series of Nature (2000) questions the nature of material and existential change in terms of outward appearance. And the subject of Andreas Gursky's large-format photo series Pyongyang IV (2007) is the totalitarian system in North Korea. Kimsooja, in her video performance titled Cities on the move - 2727 km Bottari Truck (1997), focusses on global migration streams, contrasting regional interests with international population flows. Haegue Yang's slide projection titled Illiterate Leftovers/Analphabetische Überbleibsel (2004) offers a critique of the impact of increased global communication. The medium of communication is treated in her work as fully functioning but devoid of content. This contradicts wishful thinking that new technology has improved international communication and leaves the question unanswered as to whether, and to what extent, increased global and cultural communication has proved a success.

List of artists
AI Weiwei (China); Yoshitaka Amano (Japan); Joseph Beuys (Germany); Paul Chan (Hong Kong/USA); Cui Guotai (China); Claus Föttinger (Holland); Shilpa Gupta (India); Andreas Gursky (Germany); Gwon Osang (Korea); Leiko Ikemura (Japan); Kimsooja (Korea); Liang Shaoji (China); Liu Ding (China); Tatzu Oozu (Japan); Yoko Ono (Japan); Nam June Paik (Korea); Sean Snyder (USA); Heidi Specker (Germany); Hiroshi Sugimoto (Japan); Truong Tân (Vietnam); Rirkrit Tiravanija (Argentina/Thailand); Andy Warhol (USA); Haegue Yang (Korea); Zhao Gang (China); David Zink Yi (Peru).

ART COLOGNE ‘Global EurAsia' symposium
The symposium is titled ‘Global EurAsia: Asien und der Westen in Kunst und Wirtschaft' and it will be held on 14 April 2008 (12 noon to 5 pm). It is an invitation-only event staged by ART COLOGNE's organizers Koelnmesse in cooperation with Deutsche Bank (an ART COLOGNE sponsor) and the Financial Times Deutschland. Klaus Martini, who is Global Chief Investment Officer at Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management, and the two curators -
Renate Goldmann and Young Hee Lee - will give introductory talks. The floor will then be open to guests from different branches of the art world, business and the arts to debate topical issues relating to contemporary art. One main topic will be: ‘Global EurAsia: a new global climate in which cultures don't clash, they converge'. Speakers will include: Dr. Karl Pilny (expert in Asian history, culture and commerce; author of Das asiatische Jahrhundert. China und Japan auf dem Weg zur neuen Weltmacht, 2005 and Tanz der Riesen. Indien und China prägen die Welt, 2006); Uli Sigg (leading collector of Chinese contemporary art); and Sook-Kyung Lee (Curator, Tate Liverpool, acclaimed for her ‘pioneering' curatorial work and international exhibition programme).

Symposium participants
Lothar Albrecht (gallerist, L.A. Galerie, Frankfurt/Beijing); Dr. Sook-Kyung Lee (Exhibitions and Displays Curator, Tate Liverpool); Iris Lenz (Deputy Director, Art Department and Director, ifa-Galerie, Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e.V., Stuttgart); Klaus Martini (Global Chief Investment Officer, Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management, Frankfurt); Dr. Karl Pilny (expert in commercial law, writer and expert on Asian affairs, Berlin); Dr. Uli Sigg (collector specializing in Chinese contemporary art, Mauensee, Switzerland); Enin Supriyanto (curator, arts writer and editor, C-Arts Magazine, Jakarta).

The project is supported by:
The Japan Foundation; The Korea Foundation; KÜHN MALVEZZI, Berlin.


Young Artists

New Contemporaries has a keen eye for new directions in art
Around 140 renowned galleries from Germany and abroad will be on hand at ART COLOGNE 2008 (16th to 20th April 2008) to provide a comprehensive overview of the art created in the 20th and 21st centuries. Once again this year, visitors will be able to make exciting discoveries in the New Contemporaries section, where 19 recently established galleries will present attention-getting works by young artists, with the generous support of the cultural foundation SK Stiftung Kultur of the Sparkasse KölnBonn. The following galleries are the New Contemporaries for 2008: Artfinder, Bracke, Charkasi, Coma, Ferdinand-Ude, Garnatz, Hoelzner, Lange & Pult, Lethert, Lorenz, M29, Murata & Friends, Oechsner, Pfab, Program Gallery, Reimann Le Bègue, Sara Tecchia, Scharmann, and Winter.

The art metropolis of Cologne will be represented by four galleries at New Contemporaries 2008 (Julia Garnatz, Christian Lethert, M29, and Kunstraum Marion Scharmann). The booming contemporary art scene in Germany's capital will be documented by five galleries (Bracke, Coma, Hoelzner, Murata & Friends, and Winter). Also participating are young gallery owners from Vienna (Charkasi), Zurich (Lange & Pult), Warsaw (Program Gallery) and New York (Sara Tecchia). Despite the broad range of the works they represent, they all have in common a keen eye for new directions in art, which they are supporting with a bold willingness to take risks and are making available to a broader public at ART COLOGNE.

In these young gallery owners' booths, which have a uniform area of 30 square metres, you'll find almost every genre of visual art. As always, painting receives major emphasis. There are also works of sculpture that are notable for utilising unusual materials. A visit to this section of the fair is especially worthwhile for beginning collectors, who will find here a wide-ranging selection of works, most of which have four-digit price tags.

In his paintings, the Scottish artist Andrew Gilbert (born in 1980), who is featured by Galerie Eva Bracke (Berlin), focuses on the British colonial wars, thus playing the role of a modern historical painter. He has already attracted a great deal of attention with his sculptures suggestive of shamanism, which are made of perishable natural materials such as heads of cabbage, potatoes and carrots. Meanwhile, Olivia Berckemeyer produces wax sculptures of the great leaders of past epochs and modifies miniature equestrian statues by dripping melted wax on them. Galerie Coma (Berlin) is showcasing interesting works by Agniesza Kurant, who focuses on phenomena that defy human logic. For example, in order to create her work "Future Anterior" she worked together with the clairvoyant Krysztof Jackowski. Markus Maria Zimmermann uses cardboard, sticky tape, acrylic and Styropor to create his "Guckkästen" (Peep Shows), which can be seen at the stand of Patricia Ferdinand-Ude (Düsseldorf). His contemporary Martin Schepers creates works that keep alive the spirit of 19th-century landscape painting.

Julia Garnatz (Cologne) is sponsoring the debut appearance of the Canadian artist Janet Werner in a German art fair. This painter's major theme is the human face. Garnatz is also showing a group of new works by the Bavarian wood sculptress Ilona Herreiner. The formal elements of these sculptures refer to the wayside shrines that borrow their images from Christian iconology. A real eye-catcher at the stand of Galerie Lange & Pult (Zurich) is the installation created by Francisco da Mata from electric guitars and pieces of distorted wood, a work that represents the artist's response to the theme of pop culture and its icons.

Christian Lethert (Cologne) will be showing the works of Daniel Lergon, an artist whose reductionist abstract paintings on fabric and paper consciously reject the contemporary trend toward figuration. Takako Kimura, who is being presented by Murata & Friends (Berlin), takes stickers that are commercially produced by the millions and glues them together to create her cheery and colourful collages, while Yuken Teruya uses manufactured materials and found objects to create his poetic objects and installations. Mysterious shapes characterize the works of the object artist Andreas Ohlert and the sculptor Peter Senoner, which can be seen at the stand of oechsner galerie (Nuremberg), along with the mythical-magical painting of Michael Sistig. The traditional technique of reverse glass painting is used by Sven Vieweg, who is represented by Galerie Reimann Le Bègue (Düsseldorf). Within this technique, the artist has discovered the potential for unconventional modes of expression.

Interesting textures characterise the paintings of Karina Wiesniewska, who structures the surfaces of her works with acrylic paint and quartz sand. They can be seen at the stand of Galerie Sara Tecchia (New York).

The gallery owner Markus Winter (Berlin) is bringing to ART COLOGNE works by Sven Ole Frahm, which have already won many prizes. Through his "cut and paste" technique in the tradition of Manzoni and Fontana, the artist is exploring new dimensions of painting. Frahm subjects the coloured canvas to a process of transformation by cutting it apart and then sewing it back together.

The "New Contemporaries" project is sponsored by the cultural foundation SK Stiftung Kultur of the Sparkasse KölnBonn, which is covering part of the stand costs. In this way the project enables recently established galleries to gain experience in dealings with art buyers and the general public and to make a name for themselves in the national art scene.


Cologne presents a culture scene that is up-to-date, exciting and vivid. At ART COLOGNE, international galleries are showing the highspots of their program, and ensuring the Art Fair is a superb display. At the same time spectacular exhibitions and events provide the city with the flair of an art metropolis. Bridges between the two sides of the River Rhine, bridges between Asia and Europe, one of the themes this year at the Fair bridges between art fairs, museums, the nonattached art scene, and gallerie
The program:
http://www.artcologne.com/wEnglisch/artcologne/img/dokumente/ARTcityCOLOGNE_04_08.pdf

Press Services
Dirk Mangold Tel.: +49 221 821-2907 Fax: +49 221 821-2181 d.mangold@koelnmesse.de

Stephanie Kickum Tel: +49 221 821-2246 Fax: +49 221 821-2181 s.kickum@koelnmesse.de

Gabriele Nohl Tel.: +49 221 821-2270 Fax: +49 221 821-2181 g.nohl@koelnmesse.de

AXA Art Professional Preview: 15 April 2008 from noon (by invitation only!)

Vernissage: 15 April 2008, 5 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Koelnmesse GmbH
Messeplatz 1 - 50679 Koln
Opening times for visitors:
Daily from noon to 8 p.m.
Entrance fee:
Daily Pass 20.00 EUR
2-Day-Ticket 30.00 EUR
Special Ticket (students, senior citizens and groups more than 10 pers.) 14.00 EUR
Evening Ticket (valid from 5 to 8 p.m.) 14.00 EUR
Vernissage Ticket: 50.00 EUR

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