Klaus Lutz and Robert Walser Day at the 17th Tallinn Print Triennial’s main exhibition Cloudbusters: Intensity vs. Intention
10.07.2018

Klaus Lutz and Robert Walser Day takes place on Saturday, 14 July at 5 p.m. in the framework of the 17th Tallinn Print Triennial’s main exhibition Cloudbusters: Intensity vs. Intention at the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM). The works of both artists are on display at the exhibition that runs in EKKM to 15 July.

Klaus Lutz (1940–2009) is a Swiss-born graphic artist, filmmaker and performance artist. His drawings, copperplate engravings and drypoint prints displayed at EKKM reveal the influence of Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. When creating his graphic system and its symbolic meaning, Lutz was inspired by Chinese logograms and other ideographic writing systems.The development of his pictorial language was also significantly influenced by the ‘microscripts’ of Swiss writer Robert Walser.

Robert Walser (1878–1956) is considered to be one of the best literary modernists. His work has been described as ‘endless diminishing’. In his later period, he wrote his stories down in pencil in tiny handwriting on random pieces of paper, in order to prevent himself to make corrections later on. His texts expressed a wish to hide, to disappear both physically and materially, to visibly become invisible. Literary scholars toiled for a long time to ascertain what Walser had written. Luckily, they succeeded, his texts were published, and Walser gained new fame thanks to his ‘microscripts’ (also on display at EKKM).

Klaus Lutz and his work will be discussed by art historian Nela Bunjevac from Zurich and filmmaker Frank Matter from Basel. Reto Sorg from Robert Walser Center, Berne will be talking about Robert Walser’s life, ‘microscipts’ and his importance and influence on visual artists. The talks are followed by the screening of Klaus Lutz’s 16mm artist’s film Titan (2008) and Frank Matter’s documentary The Beauty of My Island — Shooting Klaus Lutz (1999) at Sõprus cinema at 9 p.m.
Both events in EKKM and Sõprus cinema are free of charge.

About the presenters:

Nela Bunjevac (b.1983) studied art history at the University of Zurich (Switzerland) and at the University of Florence (Italy). In 2012, she served as the co-curator for the Klaus Lutz retrospective In the Universe at Museum Haus Konstruktiv in Zurich. She is preparing a doctoral thesis on Lutz which includes the first comprehensive catalogue raisonné of his work.

Frank Matter (b.1964) got into filmmaking in 1992 by working as an assistant director on a documentary, then directing his own first short fiction film. A year later he moved to Brooklyn, where he has been working for many years as a director, producer and writer. After returning to Basel in 2006, he founded the film production company soap factory GmbH. He is the head of the board of Klaus Lutz Estate.

Reto Sorg (b.1960) studied German literature, history and art history in Berne and Berlin. His main areas of work and research are literary modernity, intermediality, literary mediation, contemporary literature and literature from Switzerland. He teaches Modern German Literature at the University of Lausanne and heads the Robert Walser Centre in Berne.

The event is supported by The Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.
In 2018, the Tallinn Print Triennial celebrates its 50th anniversary. The main exhibition of the 17th Tallinn Print Triennial Cloudbusters: Intensity vs. Intention (curated by Margit Säde) is open at EKKM until 15 July. The first exhibition of this year’s programme, Puzzling Over the Labyrinth: 50 Years of the Tallinn Print Triennial (curated by Elnara Taidre and Eha Komissarov), dedicated to the history of the Tallinn Print Triennial, is open at the Kumu Art Museum until 26 August. In addition, the solo exhibition Skinship by Viktorija Rybakova, the Grand Prix winner of the 16th Tallinn Print Triennial, is open at Tallinn City Gallery until 5 August.

 
Additional information:
tallinn@triennial.ee
www.triennial.ee
www.ekkm.ee

Margit Säde
Curator
+372 56 285 680
margitsade@gmail.com