Arbeiten aus System. Konkrete Kunst 1954–2011

Concrete art is a special field of contemporary art and is rarely the focus of attention in the art world. This documentation shows the enormous aesthetic richness of this field and the relevance it can have for contemporary issues, especially today, in its reduction to the fundamental. After all, the progressive digitalization of the world means that concrete connections between object and image, apparatus and medium, material and form seem to be dissolving and are virtually being unlearned. In contrast, the serial drawings, spatial installations, paintings, and sculptures presented as “works from system” emphasize the inherent dynamics of their respective chosen means in the test application of self-created systematics. In doing so, their aesthetic potentials are explored just as much as their unnaturalness as man-made constructions – in order to be able to modify them. Therein lies their social dimension.

With descriptions by Holger Kube Ventura, this richly illustrated book portrays works by Anton Stankowski (1906-1998), Norbert Kricke (1922-1984), Vera Molnar (b. 1924), Hans Peter Hoch (1924-2011), Thomas Lenk (1933-2014), Bernard Aubertin (1934-2015), Hartmut Böhm (b. 1938), Issao Takahashi (1951-2005), Christian Wulffen (b. 1954), Dimitry Orlac (b. 1956), Kathrin Kaps (b. 1961), Tom Benson (b. 1963), Steffen Schlichter (b. 1967), and Erik Sturm (b. 1982).