“Failure is not an option.” is a famous quote from the Hollywood film Apollo 13. The American sociologist Richard Sennett has even called failure the great taboo of modernity. In a performance-oriented world, failure has a bad reputation. Yet failure can have a positive effect on personal development and creative processes. “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” the Irish writer Samuel Becket once said, emphasising the positive power of failure. Franz Kafka and Wolfgang Beltracchi are prominent examples of failed artists who are nevertheless, or precisely because of their failure, world-famous. In works by Bruce Nauman, failure is even chosen as the central artistic theme.
So what does failure mean in the field of art? Failure is often seen as the starting point for the artistic creative process. Often, the negative experience precedes the creative process and is seen as a creative motor. Thus, the artistic process itself is marked by failures and setbacks. By the time a work can be published, many artists have already failed due to the technique, the nature of the materials, the economic pressure or self-doubt.
At what point is an artist or his work considered a failure? Is failure the basic condition for great artistic creation or merely a romanticised notion of art? What role does failure play in the artistic process? Goldstein Galerie will explore these questions in a new series of events “On Failure” starting in September 2023.
Artists: Frédéric Ehlers, Jakob Hoffmann, Thomas von Steinaecker amongst others
4. September to 31. October, 2023
“Failure is not an option.” is a famous quote from the Hollywood film Apollo 13. The American sociologist Richard Sennett has even called failure the great taboo of modernity. In a performance-oriented world, failure has a bad reputation. Yet failure can have a positive effect on personal development and creative processes. “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” the Irish writer Samuel Becket once said, emphasising the positive power of failure. Franz Kafka and Wolfgang Beltracchi are prominent examples of failed artists who are nevertheless, or precisely because of their failure, world-famous. In works by Bruce Nauman, failure is even chosen as the central artistic theme.
So what does failure mean in the field of art? Failure is often seen as the starting point for the artistic creative process. Often, the negative experience precedes the creative process and is seen as a creative motor. Thus, the artistic process itself is marked by failures and setbacks. By the time a work can be published, many artists have already failed due to the technique, the nature of the materials, the economic pressure or self-doubt.
At what point is an artist or his work considered a failure? Is failure the basic condition for great artistic creation or merely a romanticised notion of art? What role does failure play in the artistic process? Goldstein Galerie will explore these questions in a new series of events “On Failure” starting in September 2023.
Artists: Frédéric Ehlers, Jakob Hoffmann, Thomas von Steinaecker amongst others
For further information visit: Über das Scheitern – Atelier Goldstein (atelier-goldstein.de)