Volkmar Kühn

Photography & Website (2021–2023)

Person wearing a hat stands with the fuel hose while refueling
View of a castle with a tower set against forested mountains and a valley
Screenshot of a German website page about “Kunstspeicher Mildenfurth,” with text columns and an image
Person in a hat pulls a rope to reveal the building’s lettering during the opening, with seated guests visible through the glass front
Gallery interior with sculptures on plinths; a blurred person walks through the foreground
Three people stand close with their arms around each other in a bright exhibition hall, with other visitors in the background
Two children kneel on grass beside a large seated sculpture, drawing
Two people stand in a bright gallery in front of large glass doors, between rows of sculptures on tall black stands, with framed artworks on the walls
Audience at an outdoor talk in front of a building; a sculpture is blurred in the foreground

Over the past two years, several occasions arose to photographically accompany Volkmar Kühn and his wife Marita Kühn-Leihbecher.

Trostburg, South Tyrol (2021)

A highlight was the long journey from eastern Thuringia to South Tyrol in September 2021 to explore the venerable Trostburg for a potential exhibition. The four of us, that is, without Kuno. Their four-legged friend would have barely fit comfortably into the car and would likely have found little delight in the excursion.

We human beings, however, succeeded in that. The area is breathtaking, despite appearing heavily developed for tourism. The sun’s rays fell flatter than the slope upon which Trostburg is enthroned. As chauffeur, the steep ascent brought me joy. For the final sprint, we had to retract the side mirrors of the VW Caddy to pass through the castle gate without scraping. The first mountain track for my racing driver repertoire.

As photographer, the mountains behind the castle, greenery beneath the sky, and Volkmar Kühn, his wife, as well as other guests in winding passages provided photogenic material. What remains in memory and brought me the most joy, however, was the first snapshot. To have been permitted to capture the artist away from the context of his creative work and art and culture in general, but rather in an everyday situation like refueling – that was a feast.

Opening of the Kunstspeicher Mildenfurth (2022)

The Kunstspeicher Mildenfurth is both the end of an era and a new beginning. Due to requirements for the nearby Mildenfurth monastery ruins, all sculptures that had shaped the image of the monastery grounds over decades had to yield to emptiness. Lamentable, as Volkmar Kühn invested a great part of his lifetime in, among other things, the care of the former monastery through guided tours as well as the organization of readings, concerts, and festivals, thereby contributing significantly to its renown.

The works of Volkmar Kühn and his wife Marita Kühn-Leihbecher may now unfold their effect in a former Mildenfurth granary. For the opening on June 25, 2022, I once again borrowed the wonderful Sony FE 50 mm F1.2 GM to capture a few moments of the day.

Website bildhauer-volkmar-kuehn.de

Shortly before Easter 2023, Dad asked me to create a small website for Volkmar Kühn. “Please, little effort. Just a text and a photo. Really simple,” he said. Well, unsatisfactory for me as a requirement – how sustainable is this solution? With a static, “simple” page, the content would still have to be maintained manually. I’d like to prevent that. Better would be if he could maintain the content himself.

I took a few of the free hours over Easter and built a website with which I am satisfied. A few design ideas that had been lying around as small code snippets in unordered bookmarks – I was able to realize them this way.

The website is open source and can be inspected on GitHub.

All Works