GROUP EXHIBITION

With the exhibition ‘we love art books. 140 publications during 25 years of passion’, their passion to make an exhibition and an artist tangible in terms of content and scholarly research, is made tangible. The number of books and catalogues published in Beck & Eggeling Kunstverlag within a quarter of a century are impressive—140 elaborate, often multilingual, publications on 66 different artists have emerged and are now presented in the gallery rooms.

Right at the beginning of their gallery activities in 1994, Ute Eggeling and Michael Beck also founded the Beck & Eggeling Kunstverlag, in which the effort to get to the heart of the oeuvre of an artist, the conception of a group exhibition, the dialogue between two artist personalities, or the emergence of a sculpture project in public space was to be recorded in book form. In the resulting art books, external authors and specialists from a wide variety of institutions and disciplines have their say, providing each publication accompanying the exhibition with a sophisticated and knowledgeable insight into the respective subject, making the books particularly worth reading and the exhibition once again worth viewing.

Over the past almost 10 years, the gallery has also been able to design its own publications in-house, so that the aesthetic decisions, which were a particular challenge for the two gallery owners from the outset, can be worked out in direct exchange with the designer. Cooperation with other international galleries, museums and institutions, but also with established art book publishers, has also enriched the range of publications and expanded the distribution radius in order to position the gallery’s artist internationally.

Ute Eggeling and Michael Beck would like to create something lasting with their published art books. Driven by the constant striving for new discoveries and for high-quality art, the respectful treatment of the artists and their works has top priority. This conviction led to a very clear decision to invest not only money but also energy in the Kunstverlag, thus creating something of its own alongside the gallery and exhibition activities.

The two gallery owners state: ‘We have set ourselves the goal of visibly conveying art to the outside world, of interpreting it and of shaping the social discourse of our time through art. We are convinced that our publications make a multifaceted contribution to cultural life’.

In addition to its own in-house publications, Beck & Eggeling Kunstverlag has also singularly published artist’s books with original prints. The exhibition will feature the Beethoven Suite by Víctor Mira (1949—2003), a joint work of Víctor Mira in 1994, as well as the portfolio in the linen slipcase Beethoven - Fifth Symphony with texts by the conductor Herbert Blomstedt.

The theme of music, composition and in particular Beethoven in the visual arts is not surprising in Mira’s work. Throughout his life, the Spanish artist was also devoted to other areas of the Arts, including writing, poetry and the stage. His archaically stylised notes and chords are applied to the printing plate with the same passion as is known from his painting. As a result, the etching shows every stroke of the brush and is of the highest quality.

The light sculptures by Federica Marangoni (born 1940) form an exciting interplay with the publications and the graphic portfolio. The conceptual artist creates glass sculptures and large installations combining technical media such as video and neo-light. Marangoni lives in Venice, where the special Murano glass is omnipresent. A major work is the installation Archive of my Memory, a glass book from Marangoni’s series ‘Library’ between whose wafer-thin glass pages light and text is projected. The materiality of the glass and the immateriality of the light form a symbiosis in which the historical legacy of the texts merges with a poetic memory.

On the occasion of the gallery anniversary, Beck & Eggeling published the journal 25 Years of Passion. Classic with a cross-section of 25 years of gallery history, which we focus on especially. Part 2, 25 Years of Passion. Contemporary, will follow this autumn.