BAD HOMBURG.- For the twelfth time now, Blickachsen transforms Bad Homburg and the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region into an international hub for contemporary art – thereby continuing the successful history of the sculpture biennale founded in 1997 by Christian K. Scheffel. Every two years, Blickachsen attracts visitors from all over the world to the metropolitan region, presenting ever new facets of three-dimensional art in a dialogue with the public space. Long established as the most important sculpture biennale in the German-speaking world, Blickachsen has for over 20 years now shaped the cultural identity of the spa and conference city of Bad Homburg, and of the region. From 26 May to 6 October Blickachsen 12 takes the stage in six locations, with a total of 60 works by some 30 artists from around the world.

Traditionally, Bad Homburg has been the core and starting point for the exhibition. The eponymous ‘Blickachsen’ or ‘sight lines’ of the Bad Homburg Kurpark, designed in 1856 by the landscape architect Peter Joseph Lenné, now extend symbolically to the castle gardens and far beyond the city limits, linking altogether six locations in the Rhine-Main region: from Lenné’s Kurpark and the landgraviate castle gardens in Bad Homburg, Blickachsen 12 this year takes visitors to Bad Vilbel, to the Niederhöchstadt Sculpture Park in Eschborn, to the Westend Campus of the Goethe University in Frankfurt, as well as to the historical Eberbach Monastery and the Park Schloss Friedrichshof in Kronberg. Set against the architecture and landscape in their respective locations, the carefully positioned works throw a new light on their historically grown surroundings – and link the region through contemporary art.

Thus Blickachsen 12 has remained true to its original idea of opening new perspectives through art. Already ten years ago, this large-scale exhibition grew beyond the confines of Bad Homburg for the first time. Since then, Blickachsen has been staged at many different locations in the Rhine-Main region. But it is not just a matter of the number of locations, sculptures or intallations, but rather the richly diverse interplay and studied combination of artwork and surroundings that define this project. The artistic programme changes each time, and each time there are new insights into the currents and developments in contemporary sculpture. New impulses are provided by the different partner institutions for Blickachsen: this year, the Wanås Konst Sculpture Park in Sweden, with its joint directors Elisabeth Millqvist and Mattias Givell. Together with Blickachsen founder and curator Christian K. Scheffel this year present a richly diverse exhibition uniting the most varied artistic positions and including numerous location-specific works.