Founding Director Heinrich Klotz
The Marburg art historian travelled to Karlsruhe from Frankfurt am Main, where he had established the “Deutsche Architekturmuseum” on the so-called »Museumsufer.« His goal was to launch a pioneering model: a center for all media and genres, the so-called Center for Art and Media. To legitimate its foundation, Klotz invariably pointed to the example of the Bauhaus in Dessau. The ZKM brings in the arts based on digital technologies. Thus, the foundation stone was laid for the institution’s self-understanding, which since its founding has furthered the linking of art and technology into the future. Heinrich Klotz died in 1999, at the age of 64.
“Heinrich Klotz was a man driven by his visions. Following his work as professor of art history at the renowned University of Marburg – where he taught numerous students who would later become prominent in their respective fields, such as Horst Bredekamp from the Humboldt University Berlin and Klaus Schrenk, former Director General of the Bavarian State Painting Collections in Munich – he began an explosive decade of founding institutes, which resulted in the »Deutsche Architekturmuseum« in Frankfurt am Main, in 1984; the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, in 1989; and the Karlsruhe University for Arts and Design, in 1992. As historian, author, teacher, theorist, museum and university founder, no German intellectual after 1945 has shaped the German art and cultural scene as greatly as Heinrich Klotz. His theories on the revision of architectural modernity, on the second modernity, and on the expansion of the concept of art in terms of media are irreversible theoretical foundations on the basis of which the future is created.”
(Peter Weibel, Chairman of the ZKM)
“Heinrich Klotz was a man driven by his visions. Following his work as professor of art history at the renowned University of Marburg – where he taught numerous students who would later become prominent in their respective fields, such as Horst Bredekamp from the Humboldt University Berlin and Klaus Schrenk, former Director General of the Bavarian State Painting Collections in Munich – he began an explosive decade of founding institutes, which resulted in the »Deutsche Architekturmuseum« in Frankfurt am Main, in 1984; the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, in 1989; and the Karlsruhe University for Arts and Design, in 1992. As historian, author, teacher, theorist, museum and university founder, no German intellectual after 1945 has shaped the German art and cultural scene as greatly as Heinrich Klotz. His theories on the revision of architectural modernity, on the second modernity, and on the expansion of the concept of art in terms of media are irreversible theoretical foundations on the basis of which the future is created.”
(Peter Weibel, Chairman of the ZKM)
Heinrich Klotz
Heinrich Klotz
Overview
On March 20, 2015 Heinrich Klotz would have celebrated his 80th birthday. For the occasion, on the initiative of the ZKM, students of the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG) produced the interview film Heinrich Klotz. Reflections on his 80th Birthday in which friends and companions of ZKM and HfG founder Heinrich Klotz share their perspectives.
All of those interviewed are certain of one thing: without the sheer visionary power, the force of conviction, and the energy of Heinrich Klotz, the »moved mover,« the ZKM and the HfG – as sites for the production, presentation, documentation, and reflection of art in the context of advanced media technology – would not exist today. Talks will be given by Prof. Peter Iden, Prof. Wolfgang Rihm, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans-Peter Schwarz, Prof. Dr. Klaus Schrenk, Prof. Dr. Martin Warnke, and Prof. Dr. h.c. mult. Peter Weibel.
The film was produced as a collaboration of Prof. Andrei Ujica, Franziska Vogel, Christian Haardt, Irina Konyukhova, Silvia Mirzenco, Florian Geierstanger, Matthias Hederer, Steffen Oestreich, Florian Geierstanger, Madelaine Merino, Marie Falke, Anna Kuhlig, and Barbara Kuon.
All of those interviewed are certain of one thing: without the sheer visionary power, the force of conviction, and the energy of Heinrich Klotz, the »moved mover,« the ZKM and the HfG – as sites for the production, presentation, documentation, and reflection of art in the context of advanced media technology – would not exist today. Talks will be given by Prof. Peter Iden, Prof. Wolfgang Rihm, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans-Peter Schwarz, Prof. Dr. Klaus Schrenk, Prof. Dr. Martin Warnke, and Prof. Dr. h.c. mult. Peter Weibel.
The film was produced as a collaboration of Prof. Andrei Ujica, Franziska Vogel, Christian Haardt, Irina Konyukhova, Silvia Mirzenco, Florian Geierstanger, Matthias Hederer, Steffen Oestreich, Florian Geierstanger, Madelaine Merino, Marie Falke, Anna Kuhlig, and Barbara Kuon.