Stone in Becoming - group exhibition

10.04 - 04.05.26

Stone has always fascinated mankind; working with it requires patience, precision, and perseverance. But once created by the hand of a stone sculptor, busts, statues, and reliefs stand the test of time. Although new materials and digital media have enriched the art world, stone remains a central and versatile medium in contemporary art and sculpture.

Stones are omnipresent in our contact with the outside world, yet they usually go unnoticed. In finely crushed form, they can be found in numerous everyday objects or as building materials. They are versatile and malleable raw materials that are often inconspicuously integrated into human use. This perception can be understood as a communication bridge between the environment and humans. Stone thus stands not only for permanence and monumentality, but also for time, change, and the history of the Earth. In contemporary art, stone takes on additional depth as a witness to the Anthropocene.

The history of stone sculpture is a journey spanning thousands of years, ranging from early, archaic, and totemic figures to complex architectural and artistic masterpieces. It represents religious and funerary symbols in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, as well as the worship of deities and rulers in ancient Greece and Rome. From the dynamic, dramatic forms of Michelangelo and Gian Lorenzo Bernini in the Renaissance, this development continues in the diverse forms of expression found in contemporary visual art.

The great stone works of art in human history have lost none of their beauty and power over the centuries. Stone is a timeless material that continues to assert itself and is also firmly anchored in contemporary art. It has by no means become obsolete as an artistic medium. Rather, it stands for permanence and at the same time demands intense dedication and engagement, which is immediately apparent in the works.

In the past, stone was mainly associated with classical sculpture. In contemporary art, however, it is used in a much freer, more experimental, and more conceptual way. The expansion of forms and contexts has led to new forms of expression such as installations, land art, and site-specific works. Raw, unworked stones are increasingly being used instead of perfectly polished surfaces. They are often combined with other materials, such as metal, glass, neon, textiles, or videos, but also with light or sound installations. Land art artist Richard Long, for example, has used natural stones for minimalist, process-oriented works in landscape spaces. By moving, arranging, or placing them in new contexts, he has assigned new levels of meaning to the stones—for example, in the field of tension between intervention, change, and transformation.

Today, stone no longer stands solely for permanence and monumentality, but also for originality and temporality, cultural identity, and ecological and sustainability issues. Artists such as Anish Kapoor and Giuseppe Penone explore the material in dialogue with space, the body, and nature. In doing so, the materiality itself often becomes the subject: weight, resistance, fracture, and strength move to the center of the artistic discourse. Through this changed perception, contemporary stone sculptures gain a special timelessness and develop a strong, immediate presence.

Exhibiting artists: Markus Gasser, Flavio Senoner, Bruno Vallazza, Otto Piazza, Arianna Moroder, Thaddäus Salcher and Markus Gasser

Flavio Senoner presents a highly abstracted female bust in the exhibition. A voluminous, rounded form condenses into a curved edge, lending the sculpture a calm yet powerful presence. Created in 1989, the work marks an early transition in his oeuvre—the shift from figurative representation to abstraction.

Arianna Moroder returns to stone in its original form. Stones from different locations are assembled into a chain, a rosary. The heaviness and originality of the material reinforce the multi-layered symbolism of the work, which oscillates between prehistory, faith, connectedness, and tradition.

The heads carved in stone by artist Markus Gasser radiate a distinctly archaic presence. They convey feelings of longing, devotion, and inner contemplation to the viewer. In some cases, it seems as if the introverted heads grow directly out of the original form of the stone.

Thaddäus Salcher's sculptures are characterized by a special balance of sensuality and quiet spiritual presence. His highly reduced figures only hint at the human form. The form serves as a vehicle for inner states: Salcher is less interested in outward appearance than in the condensation of feelings and emotions, which lend the figures a calm, contemplative aura.

Born in 1928 and deceased in 2016, artist Bruno Vallazza is represented in the exhibition with sculptures combining wrought iron and pebbles. The stones retain their naturally rounded shape but are assembled into new sculptural units. Conglomerate-like compactions thus create hints of human figures. Two marble sculptures are also on display, in which Vallazza similarly alludes to human figurations with highly reduced forms.

The sculptures of Otto Piazza echo the formal concepts of archaic and ancient cultures. His voluminous, anthropomorphic figures convey strength, stability, and earthiness. In their compact plasticity, they seem to carry within them the energy of the Dolomite landscape, whose rock and massiveness echo in their appearance.

The sculptor and draftsman Michael Höllrigl (1936–2024) devoted his artistic work throughout his life to the theme of humanity. In his sculptures, he reduces the human form to a few precisely placed shapes that describe the contours of the body rather than spell them out. By combining geometric volumes, he creates concentrated sculptural compositions in which the human body is present as an archetypal form. In some works, Höllrigl combines elements to create totem-like towering stone sculptures.