In a New Light. Collection of the District Upper Palatinate
Featuring the new acquisitions of 2022 by Stefan Göler, Elena Helfrecht, and Jonas Höschl
As well as works by Beate Engl | Miriam Ferstl | Peter Lang | Günter Mauermann | Peter Mayer | Harry Meyer | Susanne Neumann | Thomas Rauh | Christine Sabel | Maria Seidenschwann | Christian Schnurer | Georg Tassev | Richard Triebe | Erika Wakayama | Thilo Westermann | Fred Ziegler
The District of Upper Palatinate's collection, housed in the Kebbel-Villa and growing by the year, now comprises around 200 works. The district's acquisition policy supports art production in the region, and the collection is maintained in cooperation with the city of Schwandorf. It is shown in regular exhibitions at the Gründerzeit villa in Fronberg.
In 2022, works by Stefan Göler, Elena Helfrecht, and Jonas Höschl were newly added to the collection of the district of Upper Palatinate. Both Helfrecht and Höschl work with photography. While the former primarily deals with subjective experiences in her staged photographs, Höschl mainly uses the medium of photography to address conceptual issues. Stefan Göler, on the other hand, focuses on expanding the medium of drawing.
The current exhibition presents the new acquisitions in the context of highlights and rediscoveries from the District of Upper Palatinate's collection. On the two exhibition levels of the Kebbel-Villa, around 30 works enter a state of tension that has its starting point in the specific characteristics of the new acquisitions in terms of media, aesthetics, or content. Curatorial arrangements that have not been realized before and in which the architectural peculiarities of the Gründerzeit building in Fronberg are incorporated, allow not only the new acquisitions but also the other exhibits from the collection to appear in a new light.
On the ground floor, which features Helfrecht's staged photographs from the Unternächte-series, mythological and mysterious thematic references dominate. In addition, the photographic works of other artists presented in this room highlight the image-theoretical implications of the medium of photography. Starting with Jonas Höschl's vitrine work There's history all around us, the focus on the upper floor is on the political implications of art. Also, Stefan Göler's works on paper possess critical dimensions: They are inspired by the avant-garde poetry of the Dadaist Hugo Ball. This poetry, as is well known, was created in reaction to a war-torn society in the throes of social upheaval.
