VOLKER SCHRANK BEICHTSTÜHLE
12 May – 20 June 2019
The exhibition
VOLKER SCHRANK
BEICHTSTÜHLE
12 May – 20 June 2019
The confessional may be a familiar piece of church furniture, an indispensable symbol and place of sin, of avowal and forgiveness, of dark ploys or illuminating revelations; yet it has not always been there. It was only in 1604 that the Synod of Namur stipulated the acquisition of furniture specifically for confession.
These days, however, it doesn‘t seem appropriate any more for a repentant sinner to confide in the father confessor, sitting adjacent but concealed in the confession box. Increasingly, the confessional is locked and at times even profanely repurposed as a broom cabinet. Confessions are made, if at all, in specially designed rooms.
The confessional is disappearing.
This exhibition shows an impressive photographic documentation of this endangered piece of church furniture, an abstracting compendium of a myriad responses to the sacred design work which the master builders and artisans found over the centuries – from Überlingen to Valencia, from Ostfildern to Tokyo.
Exhibition opening
Saturday, 11 May 2019 at 5 pm
bildkultur | galerie, Markelstr. 19, 70193 Stuttgart
Introduction
Dr. Matthias Bullinger | bildkultur Stuttgart
The exhibition is on view
from Sunday 12 May – Thursday 20 June 2019
Gallery
hours
On appointment:
Phone 0711 / 6 57 33 03
info(at)bildkultur.de