To mark the awarding of the Aachen Art Prize to Franz Erhard Walther, the Ludwig Forum is staging a solo exhibition of the artist’s work in summer. Since the 1960s Walther has challenged the traditional notion of sculpture like no other artist of his generation, extending and decisively changing our ideas about sculpture. The body, time, space, language, gestures – Walther includes all these materials into his sculptural works and installations. Liberated from just passively looking on, the viewer is not only animated to intellectually, emotionally, and at times directly engage physically with Walther’s action objects but also to let the respective sculpture happen as a whole. The Aachen exhibition shows a representative selection of textile works, floor sculptures, and work drawings from different decades, shedding light on Franz Walther’s central role as a pioneer of participatory art.
The Aachen Art Prize is donated by the Verein der Freunde of the Ludwig Forum, the City of Aachen, and the Aachen business community. It is awarded biannually by an international jury to artists whose innovative work has impacted on the international art scene. Worth 10 000 Euros, the Prize also features an exhibition in the Ludwig Forum.
Curators: Andreas Beitin and Esther Boehle
Watch the trailer of Franz Erhard Walther. Handlung denken
Franz Erhard Walther. Handlung denken (Thinking Action), Installation Views
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2017, Photos: Carl Brunn / Ludwig Forum Aachen
Franz Erhard Walther. Thinking Action, award ceremony & opening
Photos: Fabian Nawrath
