Solo exhibition by Wilhelm Klotzek as part of the annual programme "Kinder, hör mal alle her!" at the Kunsthalle Osnabrück

Wilhelm Klotzek creates many different forms of art. Installations, sculptures, miniature models, poster series or text as forms of storytelling. [The public space often plays an important role in his works. Places such as parks, squares or streets. Because he thinks so: This is where important questions are negotiated together. Questions of socialisation with art, design and politics. [Socialisation means here: How have we learnt to deal with art, design and politics? From childhood onwards. How do we deal with it? What experiences have we had?] Wilhelm Klotzek finds: Memories come together in public places. Private memories, but also shared memories of important moments in history. Wilhelm Klotzek tells of this in his humorous visual language.

Wilhelm Klotzek has designed an "outdoor museum" for the inner courtyard of the Kunsthalle Osnabrück. Museums have been around for a long time. Their importance has developed over the course of history. They are public institutions for the cultivation and communication of culture. But a museum can only ever show a limited selection of things. Who decides what knowledge and values should be conveyed in museums? And how are they communicated? Wilhelm Klotzek takes all these questions as the starting point for his playful, participatory installation. [Participatory means here: Visitors are invited to join in.]

The installation is set up like a classic exhibition: plinth, picture frames, seating and sculptures. The sculptures look like visitors. In other words, everything that belongs in an exhibition is there. Only the art is missing. But there are labels on the picture frames and plinths.

The installation is an invitation to visitors and art education. They can all actively use the museum. Make it their own. You can fill the empty frames and plinths. In your own head or in workshops with the art education team. Wilhelm Klotzek shows that a museum does not have to be a place of quiet and serious contemplation. It can also be a lively meeting place for everyone.


Wilhelm Klotzek (DE) is a sculptor who lives and works in Berlin. Klotzek has had solo exhibitions at Galerie Kosterfelde Edition, Berlin (2023, 2021, 2020 and 2018), Galerie Tobias Naehring, Berlin (2020, 2019, 2017) and the Institut für Kunst im Kontext, Berlin (2017), among others. He has participated in major group exhibitions, including at the 6th Sculpture Triennial, Bingen, DAS MINSK, Kunsthaus, Potsdam (both 2023), Kunstverein Reutlingen and the Institut für Auslandbeziehungen (Ifa) Stuttgart & Berlin (both 2022). Wilhelm Klotzek has been teaching as a professor in the sculpture department at the Kunsthochschule Berlin Weißensee since 2023.

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