julIa wuggenIg
about me
Why art? What can art even mean to us? Browsing online, I came across the following quotes, which immediately resonated with me:
„Art only becomes interesting when we are faced with something that we cannot fully explain straight away.“
Christoph Schlingensief
„Art is a metaphor for the immortal.“
Prof. Ernst Fuchs, Austrian painter, architect, graphic designer and musician, 1930-2015.
These two quotes encapsulate my fascination with art: on one hand, the enigmatic, the play of symbols and signs that must be deciphered; on the other hand, the metaphysical, eternal dimension of art that inspires wonder — as already contemplated in the 18th century by Edmund Burke in his exploration of the sublime.
Art has played an important role in my life ever since. Whenever possible, I attend major art fairs, and I enjoy visiting exhibitions — especially in Baden-Württemberg, where I currently live, and in Berlin, where I travel frequently for professional reasons.
Here is an excerpt from my CV:
- University of the Arts (Universität der Künste), Berlin, „training in curating, focusing on exhibition conception, legal aspects, financing and organization, September 2023 – December 2023
- Kunsthalle Messmer, rainee focused on exhibition planning and operations, followed by employment (October 2021 – December 2022)
- Städtische Galerie Bietigheim-Bissingen, internship in exhibition planning, didactics, press work (August 2015 – September 2015)
- Musée du Louvre, Paris, internship in graphic arts department, with orientation toward exhibition planning (November 2008 – February 2009)
Art is multifaceted, and contemporary art in particular doesn’t always speak to the visitor at first glance. My guided tours offer well-researched contextual background on works and their histories, while also inviting participants to share their own views, interpretations, and thoughts. During my training, I already developed guided tours for exhibitions such as Patrick Hughes & Zhuang Hong Yi, Disney’s Draughtsmen, Mel Ramos and Lightart. Today, I deliver these tours as a freelance art historian.
an excerpt of my guided tours:
- Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim
Guided tours already done:
Anna Uddenberg – Premium Economy
Hager, Hover, Lassnig
New Objectivity
Ongoing guided tours:
Fragment, figure, torso – the sculptures of Kunsthalle Mannheim
The Body in Fragments
Kirchner, Lehmbruck, Nolde – Stories about Expressionism in Mannheim
Highlights of the Collection - Museum im Kleihuesbau, Kornwestheim
Guided tours already done:
Matthias Garff – Cloud-Cuckoo-Land (Wolkenkuckucksheim)
Wondrous worlds - Kunsthalle Tübingen, Tübingen
Guided tours already done:
Art treasures from the Baroque to the Contemporary from Lower Austria
Gert and Uwe Tobias
Yet to come
Example:
In Mannheim the art movement “New Objectivity” was invented
The new Kunsthalle and the hipster neighborhood Jungbusch
The city of Mannheim is attractive to visitors with its art highlights and tastefully designed parks! We will visit the new staging of the “New Objectivity” exhibition, stroll through Mannheim’s trendy Jungbusch neighborhood and take a rest in the afternoon in the Luisenpark, if the time is enough.
The new staging of the exhibition “New Objectivity” at Kunsthalle Mannheim, which gave the art movement its name, will focus on the one hand on the achievements of its former director Gustav F. Hartlaub, on the other hand it will be adapted to our present times through exhibits of female artists, who weren’t displayed in the original exhibition from 1925.
As a trendy neighbourhood, Jungbusch is often compared to the alternative art districts of Berlin. Situated close to the harbour, it embodies metropolitan flair with a touch of industrial romance. A visit to the Port 25 Space for contemporary art and a walk through the streets and courtyards is planned.
While working at Kunsthalle Messmer, I not only wrote scholarly catalogue articles and wall texts, but also contributed to exhibition texts in publications such as Patrick Hughes & Zhuang Hong Yi, Disney’s Draughtsmen, and Lightart. I would be glad to write:
- artwork labels
- catalogue entries
- wall texts
- other texts on request
I also assist with exhibition organization: during my time at Messmer, I developed the concept for the André Evard exhibition (2023) and supported the planning of the shows Patrick Hughes & Zhuang Hong Yi, Disney’s Draughtsmen, and Light Art. In 2023, I completed a certificate course in curating at the Berlin University of the Arts, covering exhibition conception, legal aspects, and financing.
Here is an example of such a text:
Refik Anadol/Machine Hallucinations: Nature Dreams
Refik Anadol (*1985), a turkish-american media artist, works with artificial intelligence in his psychedelic-abstract moving landscapes. Science and technology meets art: algorithms, which continue to develop themselves on their own, conjure up dreamlike landscapes. His artworks are being projected on facades and thus unfold their aesthetic charm in interaction with the architecture. Anadol trains so-called GAN-networks („global area networks“) with enormous picture collections – for the work “machine hallucinations: nature dreams” he fed the algorithm with 300 millions of open-source photographies which he compiled during the years 2018 – 2021. The result is a dynamic merging of soft waveforms, which he calls “datapaintings” – a term which is highlighted through the white frames of the screens. In his artworks, Anadol only sets the initial impulse. He doesn’t have any control of the further development of the artworks. This is how he tries out the borders of what is possible and raises central questions, which increasingly matter to us due to the technological advancement: who is the author of a work – man or machine? Can consciousness exist outside the human body? Still it is not possible to answer these questions – Anadol nevertheless broadens our horizon so that we start to thank about the nature of human consciousness in the first place and to allow possible alternative readings.
The German art market is a significant part of the international art world. Have your English or French texts translated by me as a specialist: I combine expertise in both art history and translation.
As an art historian (PhD) and a state-certified translator, I have oriented much of my translation work toward art. Contemporary art and the art market are of particular interest to me.
Below is an excerpt from a translation I did of a Guardian article about YBA artist Sarah Lucas:
| German | English |
|---|---|
| Lucas’ kopflose Figuren verknoten sich ineinander und gleiten wie Figuren in einem Francis-Bacon-Interieur durch den Raum. Wären sie von Männern gemacht, würden sie aus der Ausstellung entfernt werden. Lucas Figuren bestehen aus gestopften Strumpfhosen, Draht und Bronze, rohem Beton und lackiertem Harz, die im Raum nahtlos ineinander übergehen. | Lucas’s headless figures tie themselves in knots and slither about like figures in a Francis Bacon interior. If these were made by men they’d be cancelled. Lucas’s figures are made from stuffed tights and wire and bronze and raw concrete and painted resin, cohabiting the space seamlessly. |
… or the winner of the turner prize 2023 Jesse Darling:
| German | English |
|---|---|
| Jesse Darling, dessen aus Alltagstrümmern bestehende Skulpturen die politische Instabilität unserer Zeit widerspiegeln sollen, hat den Turner-Preis 2023 gewonnen. Der in Oxford geborene Darling war einer der Favoriten, der den mit 25.000 £ dotierten Preis mit nach Hause nahm. Seine Skulpturen aus verblassten Union Jack Fähnchen und Metall-Fußgängerschranken wurden an zwei Orten gezeigt: No Medals, No Ribbons (Keine Medaillen, Keine Bänder) war im Modern Art Oxford Museum und im Enclosures Museum des Camden Art Centre zu sehen. | Jesse Darling, whose sculptures are made of everyday detritus to reflect the political instability of our times, has won the 2023 Turner prize.Oxford-born Darling was one of the favourites to take home the £25,000 award. His sculptures made up of faded union jack bunting and metal pedestrian barriers were shown in two locations: No Medals, No Ribbons was at Modern Art Oxford and Enclosures at Camden Art Centre. |
- Intertexts in City of Glass as a way to represent ambiguity and fragmentation of meaning in human language – a comparison between the novel and the graphic novel (2019)
- Intermediality and the future of films as a link between cinema and museum at the example of the films “The Mill and the Cross”, “Shirley – Visions of Reality” and “Passion” (2018)
- Heinrich Gentz’s travel to Sicily and his experiences with antique architecture (2017)
My personal artistic practice revolves around illustration, with drawing at its core. I work mainly with coloured pencils, graphite, watercolours, and occasionally markers. On the right, you’ll find an excerpt.
