Installationsansicht der 50 Meter langen Arbeit »Überfluss« aus Papier aus alten Jeans und T-Shirts

Überfluss

Untertitel
Sounding Paper by Clemens Schneider
Laufzeit
18 May 2025 – 4 January 2026
Beschreibung

The Stuttgart-based artist Clemens Schneider decides to take a new artistic direction after completing an apprenticeship as a stonemason and subsequent studies in painting: he turns to paper. Schneider quickly realizes that the type of paper he needs to realize his ideas does not exist on the market. Fascinated by mechanical processes and technology since childhood, the artist ultimately turns to an old craft. Using a self-developed process and homemade devices built from recycled materials, he produces what is known as rag paper. To do this, he collects used jeans and T-shirts from his circle of friends and processes the old clothes into a paper pulp, which he then spreads on a windbreak net and incorporates contact microphones. The pulp is pressed together with a roller and dried, resulting in his "sounding paper."

In 2023, we were able to acquire Clemens Schneider's large-scale work "Überfluss" for our Graphical Collection. The work addresses our throwaway society, which lives in abundance, producing and discarding, building and destroying. In "Überfluss", the artist incorporates blue jeans, white T-shirts, and the noise of a Stuttgart construction site, which he technically transforms into a meditative sound. Through the process of making paper from recycled materials, Schneider brings the original characteristic of art as craftsmanship to the forefront, something increasingly overshadowed in the age of artificial intelligence. 

The work "Überfluss", which was first exhibited in 2022 at Stuttgarter Wagenhallen, is now on display in the exhibition "Überfluss. Klingendes Papier von Clemens Schneider" in the Graphics Cabinet. The expansive installation engages the audience in a physical and acoustic dialogue, offering an immersive experience.

Credit: Clemens Schneider, Überfluss, 2020, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Graphische Sammlung, erworben 2023 mit Mitteln des Ministeriums für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg für zeitgenössische Kunst, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025, Foto: Clemens Schneider