An El Dorado for art: "art KARLSRUHE is perfect"

All set for the Baden El Dorado for art! This and nothing less is namely what the bright and airy column-free halls of the Karlsruhe Trade Fair and Exhibition Centre will be transformed into when the seventh art KARLSRUHE opens its doors from 4 to 7 March 2010. In the coming year the proven concept of "southern Germany's largest and most beautiful gallery" will be presenting classic modern and contemporary painting, sculpture, drawings, graphics, multiples, and photography in perfect harmony. A concept bearing fruits: the 2009 event set a new record with 42,000 visitors, not least as a result of the new, clear layout of the halls. The conclusion drawn by the fair's curator Ewald Karl Schrade is unequivocal: "art KARLSRUHE is now perfect".

Art dealers' interest in art KARLSRUHE is undiminished. The panel of judges, comprising Ewald Karl Schrade, the art critic Dorothee Baer-Bogenschütz (Wiesbaden) and the gallery owners Renate Bender (Munich), Wolfgang Henze (Wichtrach/Bern), Dorothea van der Koelen (Mainz, Venice) and Werner Tammen (Berlin), selected a total of 200 exhibitors from the 350 or so applications received.

At the next event, too, art KARLSRUHE will continue to pursue the strategy implemented so successfully so far, putting quality at the forefront. This is clearly reflected in those taking part. Making their premiere, for example, are Galerie Scheffel (Bad Homburg) and Michael Werner (Cologne, New York). Among the multitude of gallery owners remaining faithful to art KARLSRUHE are Rainer M. Ludorff (Düsseldorf), Hans Maulberger (Munich), and Georg Nothelfer (Berlin). 19 spacious sculpture zones provide an opportunity for intensive art encounters. Next spring more than 16 specialists for editions, i.e. graphics, multiples, and photography, are putting their portfolios on show in Hall 1. Taking place at the same time is a special exhibition of privately-owned South African art and the presentation of the third winner of the Hans Platschek Prize for Art and Writing after F. W. Bernstein and Friedrich Einhoff (award ceremony 4 March).

Visiting art KARLSRUHE for the second time are gallery owners from Germany's capital, forming a section of their own in the dm arena: sponsored by the Berlin Senate, 15 art dealers each have an area of 25 m² for staging a single presentation. The regional association of Berlin galleries LVBG (Landesverband Berliner Galerien) is stewarding the project entitled art from berlin. Ewald Karl Schrade is fittingly grouping recent art in the same location, namely 30 so-called "New positions".

Also being awarded to the artist and gallery with the best one-artist show (award ceremony 5 March) for the third time is the Baden-Württemberg and City of Karlsruhe art KARLSRUHE Prize. The prize money of 15,000 euros is used to buy works from the winning stand to add to the art KARLSRUHE Collection. And at the ARTIMA art meeting (4 and 5 March) twelve specialists in contemporary art once again answer questions from Karlheinz Schmid, chief editor of the German art magazine KUNSTZEITUNG.

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