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In 2016, Ingrid Wagner, sister of the internationally renowned curator Frank Wagner, donated her late brother's extensive library to the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig. The curatorial estate, including artworks and documents, was handed over to the recently opened Archiv der Avantgarden (ADA) in Dresden. The collection represents an important thematic concentration of European and American art history, featuring catalogs from the early careers of internationally known artists whose exhibition activities Wagner accompanied for decades—some with personal dedications. After cataloging and keywording, the approximately 4,500 books will be stamped with an ex-libris stamp designed by Christin Lahr and incorporated into the library's collection.

Frank Wagner, who most recently curated the German Pavilion at the photography exhibition in Dubai and the European Month of Photography, made a name for himself for decades with internationally acclaimed exhibitions. He supported young artists and often brought them to Berlin before their international breakthrough. With sensitive radicality, he pursued political questions concerning social conditions, everyday violence, racism, colonialism, fascism, and marginalized sexuality. His experimental curatorial approach provoked uncomfortable discourses and reached people beyond the art scene. Wagner played a pioneering role with early exhibitions on power-political body discourses, gender issues and AIDS. In 1988, he curated Europe's first exhibition on HIV, giving new dimension to the politicization of the personal.

Frank Wagner had a close relationship with HGB since 2001 and was regularly invited to give lectures, workshops, and talks. In 2007, he curated the 2nd Faculty Show "The Whale or Artists in the Circus Dome" with faculty members, and in 2015, the exhibition "Desire" with the class of Tina Bara.

The presentation introduces the work of the internationally renowned curator and offers the opportunity to familiarize oneself with his books. There will be a guided tour with Christin Lahr at 3pm.

>>> The event is part of the annual program for the 150th anniversary of the HGB Library. More information...