Materie Stahl

Focusing on the tense relationship between material and form, the exhibition shows works by Alf Lechner and illustrates how the understanding of materiality has changed: from a passive material that is subordinate to form to an independent actor in the artistic process. Lechner understood steel as the co-author of his sculptures, whose reactions and processes determined the form. The steel is not only worked on, but is also a partner in a dialogue-based process of creation. The sculptural interventions reveal the character and resistance of the material - fractures, traces and reactions are evidence of an intensive exchange between artist and material. In his late work in particular, the material emancipates itself from its traditional role and becomes a co-creator of the form. This provides an insight into the aesthetics of production and the poetic dimension of industrial materials. Lechner's sculptural practice can be seen as an example of a paradigmatic change in art that places the active role of matter at the centre.