Sonderschau VESSELS . special exhibition VESSELS

The SONDERSCHAU VESSELS is a special exhibition of the Forum for International Vessel Art VESSELS. The exhibition presents different contemporary interpretations of international art vessels in ceramics, wood, metal, silver, urushi lacquer, glass, textile and paper.

 

 

The much-acclaimed and innovative works by the different artists explore the limits of vessel art, thus approaching the realm of free art. Each in their own manner, the artists explore the world in which they live. Their experiments are not without a purpose: they strive to find new paths and find answers to unusual creative or artistic issues. Most are ahead of their time.

 

 

Initiated in 2004 by Henriette and Martin Tomasi in the West of Munich, the forum is today located in the idyllic town of Kronberg im Taunus, which was formerly the home of the European artist group “Kronberger Malerkolonie”. The group VESSELS  has grown to 36 artists. The English word “VESSELS” has been the group’s logo from the beginning.

 

 

 

The term “VESSEL” is a complex word with a number of meanings in English as well as in German. It can mean an every-day item, a container, but also a blood vessel, a coronary vessel, a capillary vessel as well as a ship, an airship, a vehicle or a seed vessel. The German Dictionary by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm contains further etymological references to the complexity of this term (Vol. 4, col. 2128).

 

 

The group made its first appearance in 2004 in the internet. The homepage www.vessels.de was installed on 25 July 2004 and provided information about the artists, their intentions and works.

 

The group had its first appearance at an art fair in 2008 at the Grassimesse at the Grassimuseum for Applied Arts in Leipzig. Three flyers were published for this show presenting the artists and their ideas.

The first VESSELS SPECIAL EXHIBITION 2009 presented 14 international, much-acclaimed artists on a stand of 120 square metres at the new art fair EUNIQUE in Karlsruhe. The homepage linked with this first project and a flyer provided all the relevant information about the group.

In 2010 VESSELS presented itself on a 400 sq.m stand at the art fair EUNIQUE. The VESSELS group produced a flyer for 2010 with general information about the special exhibition. 7000 invitations, all individually designed to reflect the different artists, were sent out to attract interested visitors. The latest achievement  was the launching of the “VESSELS EDITION”, a publication series featuring annual presentations of artists. The first catalogue in this series will be the catalogue of the “Special Exhibition VESSELS 2010”.

 

Another premiere was the “VESSELS ROAD”, a path leading through the entire exhibition highlighting the exhibiting artist’s masterpieces.

 

Text: Vessels / Übersetzung ins Englische: Kerstin Hall, Südafrika (Fachübersetzungen Kunst)

 

 

 

 

 

 

  VESSELS ROAD, Sonderschau VESSELS 2010