Design Theatre curtain
It is not unusual for artists to also produce works of applied art; often design and art cannot be clearly separated. This is because handwriting, formal characteristics and style can be used flexibly; it depends on the adaptability of the artist as to how far the transfer from one profession to the other goes. And Andreas Felger is a virtuoso when it comes to working with such transitions. This has as much to do with his background as a designer in the textile processing industry at PAUSA in Mössingen as it does with his willingness to experiment when it comes to expanding his artistic possibilities between painting, sculpture and spatial design. The fact that this experimentation ultimately extends to his concepts for purely artistic works is shown by his series of five Wegmarken from 2020, sculptures that were installed in Mössingen’s urban space (see the work of the quarter 03.2022). By assembling two “picture” surfaces at a spatial distance, the flat elements become three-dimensional and appear as a synthesis of (upper) surface and sculpture.
I also see Andreas Felger’s theatre curtain (11 x 22 m) in this context, which appears spatial insofar as the front and back are treated equally (and very differently) and also because a curtain falls in folds, perhaps better in waves, and thus incorporates the space more strongly into the work than a flatly stretched fabric. In addition, a theatre curtain, also a room divider, functions on the border between the performers and the audience and at the same time as a stage picture, the framing of which consists of the front end of the stage. These features and visual conception fit so coherently into Felger’s overall work that the idea and opportunity for it could have arisen earlier. But often several things have to come together to create something; in this case, a commission was needed to make the realisation possible.
Marcel Kohler (*1991), who has made a name for himself as an actor, director and stage designer in Germany from Berlin, was the initiator of this project and will continue it in his productions. The reason for the commission, which can also be seen as a collaboration between generations of artists, was also to honour Felger on his 90th birthday. In the words of Marcel Kohler:
“I am convinced that the format of a stage curtain can celebrate the art of Andreas Felger in an unusual and special way on the occasion of his 90th birthday. Fabric as a material and a size of many square metres gives Andreas Felger the opportunity to create a work that is unique both in his oeuvre and in the theatre landscape, uniting his late work with his artistic origins.“
Text by Marvin Altner
Marvin Altner holds a doctorate in art history and is a lecturer in art studies at the University of Kassel. After a traineeship at the Hamburger Kunsthalle in Hamburg, he worked as a research assistant and curator at museums in Berlin and Hamburg and as a freelance author in the field of visual arts from the 19th century to the present. Since 2012, he has been teaching at the Kunsthochschule Kassel in the art studies program and works as a research assistant for the Andreas Felger Kulturstiftung, including as author, exhibition coordinator, and supervisor of the database of Andreas Felger’s works.