Wolfgang Laib The Beginning of Something Else

Wolfgang Laib creates his subtle works  in an exchange with the natural environment and in tune with the seasons. Whether it be gathering pollen for his famous minimalistic, luminous yellow floor works or the lengthy production of his sculptures made of beeswax – respect for nature is the artist’s driving force. Since the late 1970s, Laib’s thinking and art have posed questions about our being and actions as part of fragile living habitats and in this respect could not be more topical.

In this exhibition developed in collaboration with Wolfgang Laib, the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart is presenting  pieces from the most important work complexes in each of the artist’s creative phases. On view are, for instance, Rice Houses and Ziggurats, a selection of drawings, as well as a pollen  field. The exhibition also features Laib’s latest works, the Towers of Silence. It thus ties in with an important focus of the collection, since Laib is represented in the Kunstmuseum’s holdings with several exemplary works, and his Wax Room, permanently installed since 2005 (in the collection basement),  is one of seven rooms of this kind in existence worldwide.