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300 guests from art, politics and business celebrated the 5-year anniversary of the founding of the European network for contemporary sculpture ?sculpture network? in the sculpture studio of the culture centre ?bbk berlin?. Professor Dr. Robert Kudielka, University of Fine Arts Berlin and host Herbert Mondry, head of the bbk berlin, congratulated as guests of honour the network to commence this event. While Prof. Dr. Robert Kudielka primarily welcomes the global and interdisciplinary exchange among the ?accomplices of art?, emphasizing their character as ?mavericks? support group? who determinedly shoulder sculpture, Herbert Mondry commends the organisation for having posed decisive questions in order to anchor sculpture in the public?s minds, and in particular the question of the contemporary relevance of sculpture in society.

Ralf Kirberg, founding member and first director of the Non-profit organisation which has now grown to approximately 600 members, commented on the development of the past few years, highlighted through concrete numbers and success stories from the network. In so doing, he further emphasized that the network is not simply a provider of services, but rather a platform on which the members themselves must build. He referred to the necessary activities of individuals that pivotally comprise the network.

He changed to the social portion of the celebration by encouraging direct contact with one another, without fear of language barriers. The international members and guests who had arrived from Scandinavia, the USA, Spain, Italy, etc. followed this invitation immediately. Alongside the performance of the artist Hina Strüver of Zürich, who visually symbolized the network with white strips of material, the ?get together? remained the central focus of this sculpture network event as well. Sculpture network celebrated its own anniversary in a particular form: an evening for networking, building and maintaining new and existing contacts. Wonderful, when cooperation is simple. Few would have thought how a cooperative endeavour could expedite the process of getting to know one another and of exchanging ideas. Even late into the night, out in the garden and in the large halls of the former vault factory, contacts and networks were being built for this thing in common ? sculpture.

Beyond these festivities, a total of 13 artist members from Berlin opened their studios to visitors on Saturday afternoon and on the following Sunday. Curator Dr. Marc Wellmann invited all to a guided visit of the Georg Kolbe Museum, which currently hosts the exhibition ?Romantic Machines?, an exhibition of contemporary kinetic arts.

Photographic impressions, programme and speeches are available for download here