Peter Fellin probably represents the Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino region of Europe better than any other artist in the Museum Eccel Kreuzer collection. He was born in 1920 in Revò in the Non valley, and spent part of his childhood and initial school years in Tyrol. He lived in Merano after the Second World War until his death in the spring of 1999. He brought with him considerable influence from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and throughout his life was an important source of inspiration for South Tyrol art, and undoubtedly continues to have an effect through to the present day.

In the early years up to the 1950s, Fellin used a highly figurative, expressionist style in his painting, yet he also experimented from time to time with other styles and different techniques. Later he moved increasingly towards abstract painting, which led him back to complete reduction in terms of colour as well as shape and technique and, according to his understanding, to the essential, to primeval forms. He also dealt with very different subjects, which ranged from self-portrayal – numerous self-portraits bear witness to this – through to religious and profane themes. Nature in its perfection took on a special role and in 1959 he dedicated Manifest zur II. Natur to it. Music accompanied him throughout his life, and he found a great source of inspiration particularly in classical music. Black and white, monochrome surfaces, expansive, monumental and geometrically minimalist installations and a few lines, used deliberately, characterise his later works.

Since the Labyrinth::Freiheit provincial exhibition in 2009, one of Fellin’s significant works, Die göttliche Belastung, has been part of the Franzensfeste Fortress’ permanent art collection. Over the years this monumental spatial installation has impressed the thousands of yearly visitors, who, in their own way, conquer the gigantic complex and labyrinth of rooms, the ascending and descending staircases and paths, and advance as far as the buildings by the reservoir to make acquaintance with the göttliche Belastung exhibited there. This work joins the itinerary of the Im Dialog mit Peter Fellin exhibition along with 14 other selected works from the Museum Eccel Kreuzer collection in Bolzano, which are leaving the historic Laubenhaus for the first time to become guests in the Fortress and provide an insight into Fellin’s work as a whole. Juxtaposed with these are works by artists from Tyrol, South Tyrol and Trentino, which were selected in an open contest. They responded to the call to engage with the selected works by Fellin and enter into a dialogue, in which they compare and contrast with Fellin’s work their personal interpretation in the form of an already existing or newly produced work or series of works.

The result of this individual approach and examination, of the differentiated ways of reading Fellin’s works and the search for possible answers, are over 20 different works from the fields of painting, sculpture, installation, photography and video and sound art.

With
Josefh Delleg, earweego - Hannes Hölzl & Echo Ho, Stefan Fabi, Paul Sebastian Feichter, Luca Formentini, Urban Grünfelder, Jörg Hofer, Peter|||KOMPRIPIOTR|||Holzknecht,
Wil-ma Kammerer, Brigitte Knapp, Hubert Kostner, Joseph Khuen & Thomas Zelger, Giancarlo Lamonaca, Tomaso Marcolla, Elisabeth Melkonyan, Petra Polli, Simon Rauter, Sylvie Riant, Hubert Scheibe, Karin Schmuck, Matthias Schönweger, Leander Schwazer, Claus Vittur, Gustav Willeit.