Draft:Museum Reinhard Ernst

• Comment: Mostly unreferenced.
  Primary sources do not establish notability per WP:GNG. DoubleGrazing (talk) 13:52, 10 May 2023 (UTC)

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The Museum Reinhard Ernst (mre) is an art museum for abstract art in Wiesbaden, which opened in summer 2024. The sponsor is the Reinhard & Sonja Ernst Foundation. Founding director is Oliver Kornhoff.

</ref>==The Museum== The Reinhard Ernst Museum (mre), newly opened in Summer 2024 at Wilhelmstraße 1 in the centre of Wiesbaden, will house the private collection of abstract art belonging to the local entrepreneur and benefactor Reinhard Ernst. It will also display special exhibitions. The project is the result of a planning process that began in 2010 and the long-standing friendship between Reinhard Ernst and the Japanese architect and winner of the Pritzker Prize, Fumihiko Maki. The museum covers a total area of 9000 m², with 2500 m² of exhibition space spread over four floors. Selected works from the Reinhard Ernst Collection, which comprises over 1000 items (as of December 2024), will be displayed on two floors. The bright white, cube-shaped building with its central atrium cost more than 80 million euros to build. In 2016, the Reinhard & Sonja Ernst Foundation proposed to the city of Wiesbaden that it would erect and operate a museum from its own funds. On the basis of a public participation process and with broad cross-party approval, a plot of land in the town's centre was leased to the foundation for 99 years. During this period, the Foundation is responsible for the construction and maintenance of the building and the financing of the museum's operations.

The Reinhard Ernst Collection

Wiesbaden's businessman Reinhard Ernst has been building up a collection of abstract art since the 1980s, which today (as of 2024) comprises 1000 works. Since Ernst wished to make the collection accessible to the public, the idea of a museum for abstract art was born. In it, works from the "Reinhard Ernst Collection" as well as loans from other museums will be on view, depending on the exhibition's main theme. The collection focuses on Abstract German and European Post-War Art, Abstract Japanese Art and American Abstract Expressionism. In addition, contemporary works complement the collection, including commissioned pieces made especially for the museum by artists such as Tony Cragg, Katharina Grosse, Mad C, Karl-Martin Hartmann and Bettina Pousttchi.

Architecture

The museum building is a design by the Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki (1928-2024), and the Frankfurt architectural firm Schneider and Schumacher was commissioned with its realisation. In its exterior design, the museum, called "sugar cube" by the locals because of its bright white granite cladding, takes up the lines and protrusions of the surrounding buildings. The museum also follows the specifications of the city of Wiesbaden to restore the border buildings along Wilhelmstraße and Rheinstraße as an "entrance" to Wilhelmstraße, just as the Grand Hotel "Victoria" once stood on this site before WWII. The museum has a rectangular ground plan with external dimensions of approx. 46 × 65 metres. The eaves height of 20 metres is also based on the surroundings. The basement reaches a depth of 8.5 metres. The main visitor entrance to the museum is accessible by foot via a flight of steps or barrier-free via a ramp on Wilhelmstraße. The entire site is surrounded by an evergreen hedge. The museum has parking spaces for the disabled. Maki and Associates created a three-storey museum that blends in with the historic surroundings of Wiesbaden's town centre, yet is independent and modern. The ground floor with its entrance area is characterised by a fully glazed atrium open to the sky, through which daylight flows unhindered into the building. The building has been divided into quadrants, arranged around this inner courtyard.

These simple structures, clad in white stone, seem to "float" above the glazed ground floor. Working closely with structural engineers Bollinger and Grohmann, the design team managed to remove almost all of the free-standing columns from the building, allowing for spacious interconnecting spaces. On a tour of the museum, the different spatial rhythms are striking - each exhibition room has a different height and dimensions - the largest room measures approximately 340 square metres, the highest room reaching a height of 14 metres.

The Reinhard Ernst Museum as‚ Third Space

In contrast to the "first space" (private premises) and the "second space" (workplace), the so-called "third space" describes a publicly accessible meeting space. It offers people the opportunity to encounter art and culture. Creating such a place that is accessible to all and invites people to engage with works of art was a guiding principle for Reinhard Ernst and architect Fumihiko Maki. In addition, the founder wished to reduce any barriers or fears to enter a cultural space, and to introduce children and young people to art at an early age in order to promote their creativity. The museum is open exclusively to school groups and other educational institutions in the morning. Children and young people up to the age of 18 are admitted free of charge. The museum's foyer will be open to all visitors free of charge. Without having to purchase an entry ticket, visitors can already see various contemporary works of art here, some of which were created especially for the museum: they can immerse themselves in a colour frenzy while looking at Katharina Grosse's large-format glass work, a work of art that weighs tons and is entitled "Ein Glas Wasser, bitte" (A Glass of Water, Please). Visitors can equally discover a magnificent bronze sculpture by Eduardo Chillida, see a bright red sculpture made of vertical guardrails by Bettina Pousttchi or view a brand new work by local artist Karl-Martin Hartmann. From the foyer you can visit the museum shop or meet up in the museum restaurant rue 1 by gollner's. The Maki Forum, also located on the ground floor, is a room dedicated to lectures, concerts, readings or private parties, and can accommodate up to 250 people. In the museum's basement, you can discover the bold, luminous glass works by artist Mad C (Claudia Walde).

Films

Tony Cragg's bronze sculpture for the mre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jPlL6MWxNw (called up on 24. April 2023) Interview with the museum’s founding director, Dr. Oliver Kornhoff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9XkyAklb0g (called up on 28. December 2022)

Publications

Abstrakt Expressionism and Beyond (Hirmer Verlag) https://www.hirmerverlag.de/uk/search-88/quicksearch/result?schnellsuche=Reinhard+Ernst&schnellsuche_absenden=suchen&filter=

Stylepark: Architecture that Keeps Your Eyes Wide Open https://www.stylepark.com/en/news/mre-wiesbaden-museum-reinhard-ernst-fumihiko-maki-architecture-stylepark-magazine

Making the Museum Reinhard Ernst Wiesbaden. Maki and Associates. Exhibition catalogue accompanying the exhibition in Aedes Architektur Forum vom 14. May – 29. June 2022 https://www.aedes-arc.de/cms/aedes/de/programm?id=20616449

Weblinks

Website Museum Reinhard Ernst: https://www.museum-reinhard-ernst.de/de/ Museum Reinhard Ernst auf der Website der Stadt Wiesbaden: https://www.wiesbaden.de/rathaus/stadtpolitik/identitaet-und-beteiligung/reinhard-ernst-museum.php Making the Museum Reinard Ernst – Exhibition (14. May – 29. June 2022) and bilangual Publication in Aedes Forum Berlin. https://www.aedes-arc.de/cms/aedes/de/programm?id=20616449 Maki and Associates: http://www.maki-and-associates.co.jp/details/index_pic.html?pcd=168

References

Afar Magazine, 23. September 2024: 10 New Buildings Every Architecture Buff Should See This Year https://www.afar.com/magazine/new-buildings-worth-planning-a-trip-around

The Art Newspaper, 20. June 2024: Collector Reinhard Ernst's abstract art gets a new home: