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art KARLSRUHE 2017: numerous celebrities among the fair’s visitors
art KARLSRUHE annually attracts not only thousands of artists, collectors, gallerists and curators, but also draws from far and wide countless actors, musicians, athletes, politicians and industrialists who are interested in art.
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German anchor Gundula Gause and managing director Britta Wirtz at art KARLSRUHE.
Suddenly the celebrities are amongst us, mixing with the other guests at the trade fair or participating in one of the professionally guided tours. Their presence assures that our fair is always full of surprises!
This will surely also be the case in the very near future, when the fourteenth KARLSRUHE takes place from 16 to 19 February 2017. (The grand opening is scheduled for Wednesday, 15 February.) “The fair will again be a forum for encounters”, predicts art KARLSRUHE’s managing director Britta Wirtz. The fair’s curator Ewald Karl Schrade adds: “From its earliest beginnings, our fair has always offered its guests ample opportunities to talk shop about the art industry. These discussions guarantee that art KARLSRUHE is more than merely a trading centre for buying and selling artworks.”
This is also assured by public discussions with well-known museum directors such as Ulrike Groos (Kunstmuseum Stuttgart) and Meinrad M. Grewenig (Völklinger Hütte). At the ARTIMA art meeting (on 16 and 17 February, beginning at 2 p.m. each day), artists such as the banana graffitist Thomas Baumgärtel and the video artist Björn Melhus will share their views on “The Future of Art”, as the event is titled this year. The idolized curator Susanne Pfeffer, who is responsible for the German pavilion at the upcoming Biennale in Venice, will likewise be represented at the ARTIMA art meeting.
We also look forward to welcoming Tomi Ungerer to art KARLSRUHE. This 85-year-old painter, draughtsman and author ranks among the artists whose oeuvre is most strongly represented among the 17,000 artworks in the collection of Reinhold Würth, a renowned collector who will document Ungerer’s works on paper and three-dimensional objects in a special exhibition which proves that despite all terrible events, this creative jack-of-all-trades “has never lost faith in the goodness of humankind”.
Apropos politics and global events: Klaus Staeck has announced that he and his brother (from Edition Staeck) will be among the exhibitors at art KARLSRUHE (Hall 1). The unmistakable appearance of this prominent political artist, who directed the Akademie der Künste in Berlin for many years, will guarantee that he is noticed at the upcoming art fair just as quickly as Jonathan Meese, who will be coming to Karlsruhe from Berlin. Meese, an internationally wooed word-and-image artist, will be awarded the tenth Hans Platschek Prize for Art and Writing on the first day of the trade fair (16 February, 5 p.m.). The laudation will be delivered by the author and art expert Florian Illies.
Last but not least, our celebrity guests also include the former museum director Klaus Gallwitz and Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen. Gallwitz will speak at the official reception for invited guests (15 February, 6 p.m.). Pfeiffer-Poensgen, secretary general of the influential Cultural Foundation of the Federal States, will share her ideas during the preview afternoon (3:30 p.m.) in the context of an SWR2 live broadcast. We have no doubt that the slogan of this year’s art fair, “Discover.Love.Collect.”, will be optimally illuminated from all angles.
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