Reach for the stars! A tour through art. „Planet 58″ and open-door days at the Düsseldorf Art Academy.

Two stages clear for completely new art

This week, the completely new art presents itself with a double event. One is already a tried and tested practice and the other is completely new. The annual open-door week of the Kunst Akademie (=Academy of Fine Arts). And the exhibition “Planet 58” at Düsseldorf’s K 21 museum.

The Academy Week opened on Monday evening for invited guests. With the farewell of the professors Katharina Fritsch, Didier Vermeiren and Johannes Schütz on the one hand. And on the other hand, the introduction of Thomas Kröger, who will take over the professorship for architecture, Lena Newton (successor Schütz) and Katrin Mayer. Today, Wednesday, Feb 6, 2019, the Academy of Fine Arts will open its doors to the public at 10.00 a.m..

At the same time, from Feb 8, 2019, Düsseldorf’s K21 will be showing the exhibition “Planet 58” with works from the graduate class of 2018.

A well-established classic: open-door days at the academy

When crowds of visitors crowd the art academy again at the beginning of February, it’s a much-loved tradition: every year, around 40,000 visitors flock to the buildings on Eiskellerstrasse 1,  to view the large annual exhibition. In their studios, the artistic classes show individual positions or conceptual joint works. In addition, exhibition areas in the corridors show further positions of the students. Almost all genres are again represented. Painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, graphics, photography, multimedia works, and again performance. Also in a mix.

In any case, it will be exciting to see what the students from over 50 countries have achieved. And the standards are high. Because the Academy of Fine Arts is considered one of the best addresses when it comes to studying art and achieving one’s own creative expression. In any case, the names of the professors as well as the “big names” of those graduates who have made it to world-class artists speak in favour of this.

And who knows, perhaps there will be another or a new Gerhard Richter, Andreas Gurski, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Candida Höfer, Joseph Beuys. And no, this list is anything but complete and in no way sorted, and yes, certainly I have failed to name one or the other, the one or the other important „celebrity“ and VIP of the world of art here. But this list would be really long indeed. And what is much more important: that’s not what it’s supposed to be about. The open-door days is more about those who (still) hardly anyone knows, those, who are currently studying at the academy and who now present their own point of view. Get to know some new names!

And where is “Planet 58”?

“Planet 58”. What is that? That sounds a bit like Star Trek, like the infinite vastness of space into which the spaceship Enterprise sets out week after week to explore distant worlds and civilizations in unknown galaxies. „To boldly go where no man has gone before.“ Well, maybe “Planet 58” isn’t quite so “out of space”, but it’s really new territory. In fact, this form of cooperation is completely new for the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen and the Academy of Fine Arts. It’s about offering young artists a great platform to present themselves and their work.

Graduates of the final year 2018 will present their work in a museum setting. For most of them this will certainly be the very first time. Approximately 60 positions on probably all common genres will be presented. Painting, sculpture, photography, installation, video and performance.

Why “Planet 58” of all places? Well, it’s the title of a work of an artist who is represented in this show. “Planet 58” is a still unexplored region. It lies in the – to a certain extent still uncertain – future of those who have chosen “free art” as their path. So, reach for the stars!

Open-door days at Kunst Akademie Düsseldorf, Feb 06, 2019 to Feb 10, 2019.

“Planet 58” at the K 21 museum, Düsseldorf Feb 08, 2019 to March 31, 2019.