HA SCHULT's WERTGIGANT

at the Düsseldorf State Parliament - October 2021

20. October 2021

Wertgigant by HA Schult

©Christian Holthausen Photography

Düsseldorf Art Academy in 1958:

The young student HA Schult looked out of the window of the academy and imagined how one day Alps would be piled up from the rubbish and scrap of the growing consumer society.

In 1968, the aspiring artist HA Schult sat at the table with Willy Brandt, Hans- Jochen Vogel and Reimut Jochimsen in Munich's "Alter Simpl" and predicted to them that one day the environment would decide politics. Then his friend "Hotte" Ehmke shouted across the table: "Shut your stupid mouth. We know that too, take it to the CDU, we want to be chancellor at last!"

In 1986, HA Schult, now a world-famous artist, stood on the Great Wall of China near Beijing and said to his companions: "One day the mountain of empty Coke bottles will be higher and longer than your Great Wall." 

The year 2021:

HA Schult's latest project, besides the legendary army "Trashpeople" is the "Wertgigant". According to a study "Reparieren statt Wegwerfen!" (Repairing instead of throwing away!) by the insurance company Wertgarantie in 2021, so much electronic waste is produced in Germany every day that HA Schult could build a thousand "value giants" every day. 

The "Wertgigant" appears at an exciting time at the NRW state parliament, 63 years after HA Schult's realisation and in the weeks of a new government formation. The "Wertgigant" was made possible through the cooperation of business, politics and art, a climate that gives the artist hope. HA Schult hopes for a common plea to turn away from the spirit of the throwaway society.

"The freedom of a society is as great as that of its art.

Let us use this freedom for the benefit of the following generations."

HA Schult, 26. October 2021

The performance of the Wertgiant is made possible by the President of the Landtag, André Kuper, and the insurance company Wertgarantie and its CEO Patrick Döring.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Born in 1939, HA Schult grew up in the ruins of Berlin. From 1958 to 1961 he studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy under K.O. Götz. Other students were Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke and Franz Erhard Walther. 

As an environmental artist of the first hour, he brought the ecological imbalance of our planet into the orbit of the media, long before the Club of Rome and before the founding of a Green Party. In 2009, together with Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, he founded the ÖkoGlobe Institute at the University of Duisburg-Essen. 

HA Schult's art has been shown on all continents and is represented in numerous public collections:
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum NYC, MoMA Museum of Modern Art NYC, Roy Lichtenstein Foundation NYC, National Gallery of Art Washington D.C., Tate Gallery London, Centre Pompidou Paris, CCCB Barcelona, ZKM Karlsruhe, State Russian Museum St. Petersburg, CAFA Art Museum Beijing, DAHUA Museum Xi'an, Zendai Museum Shanghai, Neue Galerie im Joanneum Graz, Museum Ludwig Cologne, DHM Deutsches Historisches Museum Berlin, HDG Haus der Geschichte Bonn, House of European History Brussels and Getty Research Center Los Angeles. 

In 1972 and 1977 he participated in the documenta.

Since 1996, the "Trash People" have stood in Xanten, Paris, Moscow, Beijing, Cairo, Zermatt, Kilkenny, Gorleben, Brussels, Cologne, Graz, Rome, Barcelona, Washington D.C., Syracuse, Fabriano, Telgte, Monschau, in the Arctic, Tel Aviv, Munich, Luxembourg, Berlin, Matera, Salerno, Pescara and Düsseldorf. Milan is in preparation. 

Companies and corporations with which HA Schult has maintained a long-standing collaboration to this day:
Henkel Düsseldorf, Bayer Leverkusen, B.Braun Melsungen, DHL Deutsche Post, BFS Bank für Sozialwirtschaft, Citroen, Ford, Toyota, Rethmann group, EEW from waste to energy, Pollet Computer, Rotarex Luxemburg, TÜV Rheinland, Anheuser-Busch Saint Louis, Hyatt group, Rhein Energie Köln, DEVK Versicherungen, Mannstaedt Troisdorf, OLS Overseas Logistic, Steinbrecher Wittmund, BS Bahners & Schmitz, Norsk Hydro Oslo and Wertgarantie.

HA Schult-Museum of Action Art

Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer 37

D-50668 Cologne

haschult@hotmail.com

www.haschult.de