Ghost Fire
Collectif Grapain
Gustav-Weidanz-Prize 2023
19.07.2024 — 13.10.2024
The French Collectif Grapain (Arnaud Grapain, * 1989 & Maëva Grapain, * 1992) has been awarded the 2023 Gustav-Weidanz-Prize for Sculpture. The Halle sculptor Gustav Weidanz (1889–1970) bequeathed this prize for young sculptors and it has been awarded since 1975 by the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle. Attached to the prize is an exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle (Saale).
The two members of Collectif Grapain, siblings Arnaud and Maëva Grapain, describe themselves as “neo-archaeologists” who explore the condition of our world. The question they raise is how and in what kind of surroundings are we currently living, and will live in in the future? What impacts do modern technologies have on our environment and on society? Is humanity itself ensuring its own extinction? What material and immaterial remains will human civilization leave behind?
Like their works, Collective Grapain is also not immediately graspable and also multifaceted. The sources of inspiration and points of departure for the themes they address come from the realm of science; the thoughts of the artist duo on those themes can be located in the realm of philosophy. The implementation in works of art often seems hybrid, hovering between technology and nature. The results are works of art that have a political and social relevance extending far beyond art.
Three of the four works on show in the so-called Nordbox at the Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle (Saale) have been created especially for this presentation.
Your visit
Opening hours
| Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun | 10 am – 6 pm | |
| Public holidays | 10 am – 6 pm | |
| Wed | closed |
How to find us
You can reach us by car via the A9 and the A14 (parking spaces, including 2 bus parking spaces in front of the museum).
The town of Halle an der Saale has excellent links to the new ICE express train line between Berlin and Munich, and the Central German rapid-transit S-Bahn service. From the central station, tram 7 (Kröllwitz) takes you straight to the Moritzburgring tram stop. From there, it is just a couple of steps to the entrance of the art museum.
Admission prices & Tickets
Admission ticket: 13 Euro | reduced 9 Euro
This ticket gives you access to the entire museum. Tickets are available in our online shop (only in German) and at the ticket desk on-site.
Reductions | Free admission
Free admission for: children up to the age of 18, school pupils, apprentices, students etc.
Reduced admission for: group of more than 10 persons (per person), recipients of Arbeitslosengeld II, severely handicapped people etc.
Information on concessionary admission prices
(PDF-file, German, 90 KB)
Guests entitled to free admission (members of the Friends Association, etc.) or holders of an Annual Ticket can reserve a ticket for the permanent or special exhibitions by acquiring a free ticket in our online shop. Entitlement to the free ticket must be shown at the entrance.
Exhibition film
Exhibition Film (German, partly in English)
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View of the exhibition
Gustav Weidanz and the Gustav-Weidanz-Prize
Gustav Weidanz taught at the Burg Giebichenstein art academy in Halle from 1916 to 1959. When the National Socialists closed down, among others, the sculpture class he directed in 1933 he joined the NSDAP party as he was afraid he would be dismissed. He received no further public commissions until after the end of the war. Neither after 1933 nor after 1945 did Gustav Weidanz allows his work or his teaching to serve the purposes of political propaganda.
In the late 1950s, when his pupils began to make an impression on the art sector in the GDR, the school forming character of his teaching activities were perceived and acknowledged at supra-regional level. As of the 1970s the sculpture school in Halle was firmly established in the art sector of the GDR.
Gustav Weidanz bequeathed art estate to the Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle (Saale); the Halle art academy became his sole heir. Moreover, in his will Weidanz donated a prize for young sculptors. The art academy and the museum have been jointly awarding the Gustav Weidanz Prize since 1975.
GHOST FIRE
Collectif Grapain
Gustav-Weidanz-Prize 2023
19.07.2024 — 13.10.2024
Project coordination
Anke Dornbach
In cooperation with
Culture Partner
