Participating artists:Students and teachers of the HBK Braunschweig, the weißensee kunsthochschule berlin and the HGB Leipzig
Venue:Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg
Schloßstraße 8
38448 Wolfsburg
In the exhibition "Mirrored - Perspectives on Contemporary Etching", students and teachers from the Braunschweig University of Art, the weißensee kunsthochschule Berlin and the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig present around 50 current positions in intaglio printing.
With the emergence of the woodcut in the early 15th century, copperplate engraving in the middle of the century and finally etching shortly before 1500, printmaking became an art genre in its own right. With personalities such as Johannes Gutenberg (ca. 1400-1468), inventor of letterpress printing with movable type, and the exceptional woodcut and etching artist Albrecht Dürer (1471- 1528), Germany can look back on a centuries-old graphic tradition.
Today, it is the art academies in particular that pass on this heritage and at the same time provide new impetus. In their workshops, students receive comprehensive training in classical and experimental intaglio printing techniques - from drypoint, line etching, aquatint, vernis mou, reservage, mezzotint, shabaquatinta, but also techniques such as screen printing on printing plates or processes associated with photography such as cliché verre or photogravure through to interfaces with the digital world. The training programmes at the universities in the three participating federal states are basically the same and yet there are subtle, visible differences.
The workshop directors Maria Ondrej, Braunschweig University of Art, Pedro Boese, weißensee kunsthochschule berlin and Robert Schmiedel, Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts, together with Katharina Walter, Museum für Druckkunst Leipzig, came up with the idea of launching a cross-university exhibition project. The aim is to visualise the diversity and quality of training in the field of etching and at the same time to focus on the next generation of artists. Eight to ten students from each university are invited to take part.
At the same time, the project is a first step towards strengthening similarities and cooperation between the institutions in the long term, working out differences and also providing new impetus. The co-operation is an important contribution to keeping gravure printing alive as an intangible cultural heritage.
The results of the "Mirrored - Perspectives on Contemporary Etching" exhibition will be made accessible to the public at various locations in Germany.
