In 1773, Elector Carl Theodor founded the Düsseldorf Academy as the "Electoral Palatine Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture." In 1819, the college was transformed into the Royal Academy of Art in the Rhine provinces of Prussia. The 250th anniversary of the academy, now an institution of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, is accompanied by an event program coordinated by Robert Fleck, Professor of Art and Publicity, with a group of students. On the home stretch of the anniversary year, the art academy can now announce a long-term cooperation with the Julia Stoschek Foundation (JSF).
A coup, because the entrepreneur, who has been presenting her media art collection since 2007 at her headquarters in Düsseldorf-Oberkassel and since 2016 additionally in a Berlin showroom, is among the most important collector personalities in the international art scene. Julia Stoschek has specialized in "time-based" art. Her collection spans from 'classics' of the sixties (such as Valie Export, Bruce Nauman, or Carolee Schneemann) to current works (by Arthur Jafa, Anne Imhof, or Kandis Williams), encompassing around 900 works. The common thread of the films, multimedia environments, and digital-based installations: the moving image, which Stoschek sees as a "characteristic feature of our time".
When Robert Fleck and his team proposed a collaboration between the academy and the Stoschek Foundation, the collector did not need to be painstakingly convinced: "Since the collection has been accessible to the public in Düsseldorf, it has been my wish to work closely with the art academy," says Stoschek. "From my perspective, this institution holds a unique art-historical position. It has enriched, if not shaped, the cultural life of the city in all decades."
But what does the alliance look like in practice? Julia Stoschek considers it "an enrichment for both partners." Specifically: "The classes of the art academy gain access to the foundation's infrastructure for specific teaching, research, and presentation purposes, including projection rooms like the cinema, our library, or the research room inaugurated last year with digital access to all works of the collection." Joint workshops are set to follow next year. A win-win situation arises for the Stoschek Foundation through direct exchange with the students: "As an internationally operating institution for contemporary art, we are at the pulse of time, but even better, a step further ahead."
The cinema of JSF at Schanzenstraße 54 is the venue for the first joint project realized by the Academy of Art and the Stoschek Foundation. Until the end of October, the students will showcase three videos here. The working group "Media Reality & Performance" led by Susanna Schoenberg deals with the art form of happenings (title of the project: "THEARTOFCELEBRATION"). The video and film class of Danica Dakić invites you to a "RomTrip" in the form of ten film contributions. Finally, the painting class of junior professor Ellen Gronemeyer gives artistic expression to the "desire to vegetate."
But that's not all for the anniversary activities in the 250th year of the venerable, somehow eternally young university: From October 20 to February 25, 2024, nearly 50 artists from the classes of Sabrina Fritsch and Franka Hörnschemeyer will be guests at the Philara Collection by Gil Bronner. The group exhibition on Düsseldorfer Birkenstraße is themed "What Is Steady Anyway?" The artistic research project "Don’t you fear the void" addresses the role of women at the Academy of Art; it will be hosted at the artists' association Malkasten and in the mausoleum of the St. Andreas Monastery Church, among other locations, until the end of the year.
Finally, Gregor Schneider's class shifts the anniversary activities onto the water in November. Announced are space, sound, light, media installations and performances. They "make the journey appear as a dream." Last but not least, the river excursion addresses the question of "what the next 250 years of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf should look like."
