Franz Erhard Walther

Body Space Time

April 18 – June 27 2021

The series of special exhibitions on the occasion of Kunsthalle Winterthur’s 40th birthday ends with Franz Erhard Walther (b.1939, lives and works in Fulda), one of the most influential German artists of his generation. A series of his signature works titled Erster Werksatz (1963 – 1969), comprises of 58 so-called Werkstücke; textile sculptures that call for physical interactions with gallery goers. Walther’s works become comprehensive artworks only by the physical initiative of the public. The objects, which are fabricated from sewn linen or cotton are carefully folded into convenient parcels and placed on the floor. Once unfolded and opened, their shapes and construction invoke bodily interaction; flaps seem to ask for grabbing, cavities encourage filling out. The Werkstücke refer deliberately to human scale and proportions; either they offer themselves as counterparts to the body or they propose a direction for looking, positioning and/or performing.
In reference to the inclusion of the human performer, Franz Erhard Walther speaks of the idea of “activation”. By using the artist’s objects, the individual image of the performer as well as their physicality becomes integral, activating both object and participant. A reciprocal relationship is formed where participant becomes live sculpture, and sculpture frames, borders, compliments and positions a body. The historic artwork is updated with each new interaction as clothes and changing fashion inevitably become subsumed into new images of the freshly activated work, thus providing Walther’s work with a fresh contemporaneity.
The presentation at Kunsthalle Winterthur focuses primarily on the Werkstücke’s historical documentation, beginning from conception and moving on to subsequent historic activations up to the present. The exhibit provides exhibition copies of four Werkstücke (Nr. 28 Gegenüber 1967, Nr. 29 Form für Körper 1967, Nr. 42 Vier Körpergewichte 1968, and Nr. 57 Zehn Sockel 1969), preliminary sketches as well as later drawings, a film documentation of an activation of each of the Werkstücke, as well as a comprehensive selection of photo documentation of various other past activations.  The exhibition copies are ready to be carefully activated by the audience, guided by the staff of the museum. By advance notification, groups of 10 people will be offered a professional photographer to document their interactions and thus given the opportunity to become part of the works’ ongoing living history. Also under instruction by the staff, every Thursday from 4:00 to 6:00 pm, all visitors are welcome to activate the works alone or in sets of two, four or ten.