German artist Wolfgang Laib (b. 1950 Metzingen) has been developing a highly individual artistic language since back in the late 1970s. Utilizing natural substances and materials such as pollen, wax, milk and stone, he creates works that, in Harald Szeemann’s words, ‘reveal an unfathomable plethora of additional internal spaces by means of the tiniest sculptural gestures’. Over recent years, Laib has frequently inserted his works into famous historical church spaces in Italy, where they came up against artworks from the 6th century to the Renaissance. Laib now transposes those kinds of ‘trans-historical’ encounters to the museum context as part of ReCollect! He creates new networks of meaning between his own work and outstanding pieces from the Kunsthaus Collection, from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, and thus acts as a catalyst for new perspectives on the historical collection of the museum.

This exhibition is supported by The Leir Foundation and Thomas W. and Cristina Bechtler.

–

Ill.: Wolfgang Laib, Pollen, 2015, Photo: Jens Ziehe, courtesy of the artist and Buchmann Galerie, © Wolfgang Laib