Nuremberg, Germany/Tsukuba, Japan/Stockholm, Sweden. International traveling exhibition with students from Alanus University.
The exhibition Surface Matter emerged from the work of an international group of painting technique teachers and conservators, presenting works by members of the network as well as their students. The traveling exhibition focuses on different approaches to painting technique as well as the materiality of the surface. The properties and potential of canvas, paper, and other media are artistically reflected upon in the exhibited works, thus becoming vehicles of meaning. This exploration of materiality is complemented by questions of ecological sustainability, an examination of the relationship between AI, digital technology, and traditional media, as well as gender-specific aspects in contemporary painting practice. Students from Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences are also participating in the exhibition. Bettina Scholz, Professor of Painting, has led them in a project entitled The Sketchbook Collective, placing sketchbooks at the heart of their creative process. These are conceived as laboratories of seeing: they are not finished works of art, but open, dynamic experiments that can also serve as tools for self-observation. The students’ installation, which combines sketchbooks, multimedia elements, and performance art, foregrounds the unfinished and provisional. Like the surface of canvas and other painting supports, sketchbooks are an important step on the path to a finished artwork. The exhibition’s first stop was the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg, where the international works were on display until February 1, 2026. Afterward, the exhibition will travel to the University of Tsukuba in Japan and the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, Sweden.
More Alanus University for Arts and Social Sciences
Translation Paula Boslau
Image Installation by the Sketchbook Collective. Photo: Marcus Schneider
