The Beginning of Something Else Wolfgang Laib
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Foto von Wolfgang Laib

Wolfgang Laib. The Beginning of Something Else

Wolfgang Laib creates his subtle works  in an exchange with the natural environment and in tune with the seasons. Whether it be gathering pollen for his famous minimalistic, luminous yellow floor works or the lengthy production of his sculptures made of beeswax—respect for nature is the artist’s driving force. Since the late 1970s, Laib’s thinking and art have posed questions about our being and actions as part of fragile living habitats and in this respect could not be more topical.

In this exhibition developed in collaboration with Wolfgang Laib, the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart presented pieces from the most important work complexes in each of the artist’s creative phases. On view were, for instance, “Rice Houses” and “Ziggurats,” a selection of drawings, as well as a pollen field. The exhibition also featured Laib’s latest works, the  “Towers of Silence.” It thus tied in with an important focus of the collection, since Laib is represented in the Kunstmuseum’s holdings with several exemplary works, and his “Wax Room,” permanently installed since 2005 (in the collection basement), is one of seven rooms of this kind in existence worldwide.

Curator Ulrike Groos, Anne Vieth
Curatorial Assistent Alina Grehl
Sponsored by Baden-Württemberg Stiftung, Volksbank Stuttgart, Zweckverband Oberschwäbische Elektrizitätswerke, MUSAGET, Otto F. Scharr-Stiftung, Helmut Nanz Stiftung zur Förderung von Kunst und Kunsterziehung

Installation view of the rice field by Wolfgang Laib at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
Wolfgang Laib, Rice Field, 2023
Installation view of the rice field by Wolfgang Laib at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
Wolfgang Laib, Rice Field, 2023
Installation view of the City of Silence by Wolfgang Laib at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
Wolfgang Laib, City of Silence, 2018–2023
Installation view of the rice houses by Wolfgang Laib at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
Wolfgang Laib, Rice Houses, 1985–2001
Two rice houses in the studio of artist Wolfgang Laib
Wolfgang Laib, Two Rice Houses in the Artist’s Studio
Installation view of a work made of hazelnut pollen by Wolfgang Laib
Wolfgang Laib, Untitled, 2015
Installation view of the pollen field by Wolfgang Laib at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
Wolfgang Laib, Pollen from Pine, 2023
Untitled installation by Wolfgang Laib at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
Wolfgang Laib, Untitled, 1991–1999
Installation view of the rice meals by Wolfgang Laib at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
Wolfgang Laib, Rice Meals, 1983
Wax room of the artist Wolfgang Laib at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
Wolfgang Laib, Wax Room, 1989
Installation view of the work titled Not Here by Wolfgang Laib at the Galerie Chantal Crousel in Paris
Wolfgang Laib, Not here, 1996
Portrait of the artist Wolfgang Laib in South India, 2023
Wolfgang Laib in South India, 2023

Missing Piece

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Film “Wolfgang Laib – Here, Now and Far Beyond”

Wolfgang Laib was born in Metzingen in 1950 and has lived near Biberach in Baden-Württemberg for over 30 years. For the first time a film, realized in the context of the exhibition, accompanies the artist at his work in Upper Swabia and at his second home in southern India and captures these areas of life relevant to his artistic work.

The film kann für 2,99 Euro can be streamed here for 2.99 euros.

Missing Piece

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Book

The publication accompanying the exhibition  is an exceptional and personal book. In it, the artist brings together texts and images that are of particular importance to  his thinking and artistic work. Among them are passages from the Epic of Gilgamesh, a poem about the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma, and quotes from the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the American artist Agnes Martin. A variety of illustrations complement the texts, be they private photos, images of Parsi rituals, or installation views of his own art works. The book offers a new approach to the work of Wolfgang Laib.

Wolfgang Laib. The Beginning of Something Else

Hirmer Verlag
362 pages, German/English
ISBN 978-3-7774-4228-0
ISBN 978-3-7774-4196-2
Museum 37 € / Book retail 39,90 €

You can order the catalog bestellungen [at] kunstmuseum-stuttgart [dot] de (by mail) according to our terms and conditions and stating your billing and shipping address. After placing your order an invoice will be sent to you. We will ship as soon as we receive your payment. Shipping costs within Germany: 4,90 €.

Laib Global

The project “Laib Global – Contemporary Positions in Exchange with Nature” highlights the three international artists AKI INOMATA, Maximilian Prüfer, and Misha Vallejo Prut, whose works are created in close exchange with nature—and in this sense are related to those of Wolfgang Laib.

“Laib Global“ was created in the context of the exhibition “Wolfgang Laib. The Beginning of Something Else.” The project was realized by students of the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg and supported by the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart.

Missing Piece

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Missing Piece

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Missing Piece

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