Siegen. Fine art photographer Thomas Kellner gave the Siegen city archive his guest book and 20 years of personal documentation material from the former studio in Friedrichstrasse on August 25.
This decision is drawn from the wish to support institutions that preserve a cultural history. In a city with significant art-historical backgrounds and home to numerous world-famous artists such as Peter Paul Rubens, August Sander or Bernd and Hilla Becher, this great legacy, regardless of its size, is still gilding today.
This archive is very important to Thomas Kellner as his studio was closed due to the university moving into the city’s center. The artist's studio has been an important point of contact for all art and culture lovers in Siegen and the surrounding area and in its global network for 21 years. The performance of the Essen Folkwang Ballet, reports from the FAZ, or the access to German and international trade magazines such as the photo magazine or Profifoto are just a few examples of the enormous reach of Kellner's art and network.
The only uniqueness of the Friedrichstrasse studio was the creation of an open work space, which, in addition to the personal relationships Xenia Frisan, Martin Steiner and Jochen Dietrich, the other three of the four under one roof, also continued with Lutz Krämer, Sabine Autsch, Melanie Müller or Bodo Schäfer. From this time many new projects and exhibitions were highlighted, which enjoyed great popularity.
The annual exhibitions as well as the curated exhibitions by photographers: network at the annual KunstSommer were frequented by a global international audience with visitors from Poland, Spain, England and China, Brazil and the US. The time together can best be described as a lived utopia of an open and public studio or artist household.
The photographic documentation of the annual exhibitions and the guest book are kept in the city archive; something of the artist's work in Friedrichstrasse remains for posterity.
techn. Daten: Ausst. Datum Ort. etc
Universitaetsstadt Siegen
Stadtarchiv
Dr. Patrick Sturm
KroenchenCenter
Markt 25
57072 Siegen
Germany
+49 0271 4043095
stadtarchiv@siegen.de
