Sprengel Museum Hannover is the Partner for Blickachsen 14

This year's Blickachsen sculpture biennial exhibition (18.5.-5.10.2025) is curated by its founder Christian K. Scheffel together with Carina Plath, curator of painting and sculpture at the Sprengel Museum Hannover, the Partner Institution for Blickachsen 14.

Every two years, Blickachsen invites visitors to Bad Homburg's historic parks with a new presentation of contemporary sculptures and installations. The exhibitions combine a wide variety of artistic approaches and a broad spectrum of forms, materials and themes - including site-specific works. And each time, young talents are represented alongside established artists from different countries. Freely accessible in Lenné's Kurpark and in the landgraviate Palace Park, Blickachsen is not only visited by art lovers from Germany and abroad, but also enriches the everyday experience of all those who first encounter art in the park by chance. The two extensive parks offer inexhaustible opportunities for the careful staging of works in a dialogue with nature. In this way, each exhibition provides new insights into contemporary art and at the same time a new experience of the heritage protected gardens.

The time-proven concept of Blickachsen as a lively platform for three-dimensional art also includes cooperation with changing partner museums: since the second edition of Blickachsen, Christian K. Scheffel, founder and curator of the biennial and managing director of the Blickachsen Foundation, has invited a different renowned art institution to help shape each exhibition. He is delighted to have secured the Sprengel Museum Hannover as a partner museum for Blickachsen 14 and Carina Plath, the museum's curator of painting and sculpture, as co-curator: "I would like to thank Reinhard Spieler, the director of this fantastic museum, for his co-operation," says Scheffel, "and I am delighted about the inspiring collaboration with Carina Plath and the exciting artistic programme of our joint Blickachsen exhibition." The names of the participating artists will be announced at the end of April.

"Curating the successfully established Blickachsen format is a challenging task," says Carina Plath, adding: "At a time when artists are working under precarious conditions and an audience shaped by fast-moving media has high expectations, it is becoming increasingly difficult to open up spaces for process-based or unobtrusive visual art. I am therefore all the more pleased that, thanks to the great commitment of the artists, Blickachsen 14 is an exhibition that can set its own points of focus."

Today, the Sprengel Museum Hannover is one of the outstanding institutions for international art of the 20th and 21st centuries. It all began with a generous donation from Margrit and Bernhard Sprengel: in 1969, the couple donated their extensive collection of modern art to the state capital, Hannover, and supported the construction of the first museum, which opened in 1979. The state capital Hannover and the state of Lower Saxony agreed to jointly bear the further construction costs and maintenance of the museum.

The core holdings of the Sprengel Collection, together with the holdings of 20th century art from the city and state, were brought together in the Sprengel Museum Hannover. As a result, the museum has grown into one of the most important centres of modern Western European art, with a particularly high concentration of outstanding works of painting, sculpture and graphic art from the period between 1899 and 1945. Acquisitions, donations and permanent loans have created further important focal points, such as the Kurt Schwitters Archive, the approximately 400 works donated by Niki de Saint Phalle, and the focus on photography. New acquisitions in the field of contemporary art continue the history of the museum's collection into the present day. In order to accommodate the continuous growth of the collection, the museum, located on the northern shore of the Maschsee, was expanded in 1993 in a second construction phase, and in 2015 with an architecturally innovative extension.

In addition to its unique collection, the Sprengel Museum Hannover presents numerous special exhibitions every year and offers a broad overview of artistic developments from modernism to the present day. With a varied programme of accompanying lectures and panel discussions, concerts and readings, workshops and guided tours, the museum is a lively place for art appreciation, inspiration, artistic encounters and dialogue. Here, the Children's Forum also plays a special role with its own exhibitions and events.

Blickachsen 14 will open on 18 May, 2025 at 11:30am on the Schmuckplatz in Bad Homburg's Kurpark.

The biennial, under the patronage of Minister-President of Hesse, Boris Rhein, is organized by the non-profit Blickachsen Foundation - together with the Bad Homburg City Council, the Kur- und Kongreß-GmbH and the State Palaces and Gardens of Hesse. The realization of this ambitious international project is made possible by private and institutional sponsors.

Detailed information on the Blickachsen 14 exhibition and on the programme of public guided tours can be found online at www.blickachsen.de in time before the exhibition opens. Individual group tours can be booked in advance through the Blickachsen Foundation (e-mail: fuehrungen@blickachsen.de, tel: 06172 - 681 19 46).

Partners of past Blickachsen exhibitions:
Blickachsen 2 (1999): Museum Glaskasten Marl (Germany), Uwe Rüth.
Blickachsen 3 (2001): Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum (Germany), Gottlieb Leinz.
Blickachsen 4 (2003): Kunsthalle Mannheim (Germany), Rolf Lauter.
Blickachsen 5 (2005): Fondation Beyeler (Switzerland), Christoph Vitali.
Blickachsen 6 (2007): Yorkshire Sculpture Park (UK), Peter Murray.
Blickachsen 7 (2009): Frederik Meijer Sculpture Park (USA), Joseph A. Becherer.
Blickachsen 8 (2011): Museum Beelden aan Zee (Netherlands), Jan Teeuwisse.
Blickachsen 9 (2013): Fondation Maeght (France), Olivier Kaeppelin.
Blickachsen 10 (2015): Middelheimmuseum (Belgium), Sara Weyns and Lieven Segers.
Blickachsen 11 (2017): Museum Liaunig (Austria), Maria Schneider (on behalf of the museum).
Blickachsen 12 (2019): Wanås Konst (Sweden), Elisabeth Millqvist and Mattias Givell.
Blickachsen 13 (2023): Stiftung Insel Hombroich (Germany), Roland Nachtigäller.

Blickachsen 14
Contemporary Sculpture in the Bad Homburg Kurpark and Palace Park
In collaboration with the Sprengel Museum Hannover

Duration: 18 May - 5 October 2025
Press conference: Tuesday, 13 May 2025, 11am in the Orangerie in the Bad Homburg Kurpark
Opening: Sunday, 18 May 2025, 11.30am on the Schmuckplatz in the Bad Homburg Kurpark

Partner institution: Sprengel Museum Hannover
Curators: Christian K. Scheffel (Blickachsen Foundation), Carina Plath (Sprengel Museum Hannover)

Organizers:
Stiftung Blickachsen gGmbH (Blickachsen Foundation)
City Council of Bad Homburg v.d.Höhe
Kur- und Kongreß-GmbH Bad Homburg v.d.Höhe
Staate Palaces and Gardens of Hesse

Under the patronage of the Minister-President of Hesse, Boris Rhein

Bookings for group tours through the Blickachsen Foundation gGmbH:
Email: fuerungen@blickachsen.de, tel: + 49 - (0)6172 - 681 19 46

www.blickachsen.de/en/home

Stiftung Blickachsen gGmbH
(Blickachsen Foundation)
Ferdinandstraße 19
61348 Bad Homburg v.d.Höhe
Germany
Tel.: +49 6172 6811946
info@stiftungblickachsen.de
presse@blickachsen.de
www.blickachsen.de

Press contact:
Sunita Scheffel
Mobile: +49 178 473 25 91
presse@blickachsen.de

About the Blickachsen Foundation
The public benefit Blickachsen Foundation, with its seat in Bad Homburg, Germany, was established in March 2013 to oversee the Blickachsen Sculpture Biennale, which it organizes together with the municipality of Bad Homburg, the Kur- und Kongreß-GmbH and the State Palaces and Gardens of Hesse. The foundation's aim is to secure the long-term future of the Biennale, and to provide access to contemporary sculpture and installation art to an ever-growing audience in the public space. At the same time, the foundation seeks to promote the evolving cultural attraction of the city of Bad Homburg and the further Rhine-Main region, and to establish the region over time as an international centre for contemporary sculpture. In offering, every two years, a platform for exhibiting the work of both young and established artists from around the world, the foundation seeks both to promote emerging artistic talent, and to heighten popular interest in and appreciation of the most varied currents in three-dimensional art. A lively encounter with contemporary sculpture is stimulated by the diverse range of Blickachsen tours and workshops for children, young people and adults. In addition, the foundation sees itself as a mediator and point of intersection between cultural and educational institutions, supporting the dialogue between artists and museums, as well as between art and scholarship.

This release was published on openPR.