bruxelles

presentation in the european parliament

gunzenhausen
members of the european parliament have the opportunity once per legislature to organize an art exhibition in the parliament building in brussels. the member of the european parliament and vice president of the european parliament, dr. ingo friedrich, invited the curator from middle franconia, karl wanka (gunzenhausen), to the belgian capital for this purpose. “we are very happy to be able to seize this opportunity,” said wanka, who has long experience in organizing exhibitions. he selected a successful array of high-quality paintings with seven artists, which fascinated the audience at the european parliament. for one week, the works of walter angerer, vladimir barantschikov, brigitte-anna melzer-hohenester, frank glanz, ernst redlberger, udo winkler, and alexander wachter could be admired in the “espace distribution”, a central exhibition space of the european parliament in brussels. the thematic range of the works spanned from naturalistic representations of nature and plants to surrealist paintings, which dealt with deep psychological aspects of the self and collective memory. in his speech, ingo friedrich emphasized that the freedom to express oneself artistically and to pose questions about the present through art is among the fundamental values of europe. the gunzenhausen mep highlighted the importance of art for peace and understanding in europe and was pleased with the participation of artists from several european countries. the exhibition received excellent feedback from members of parliament and eu officials and inspired many visitors to engage with the questions raised by the artworks. in brussels, there was also an invitation to the presidential palace in bucharest. the gallerist karl wanka gladly accepted. another exhibition featuring works by international artists is planned for september 2007.