Idealist #1: Kampfgeist

Idealist is a unique exhibition space, a printed gallery for contemporary art, published twice a year as a group exhibition exploring a different predefined theme. It serves as a presentation forum as well as marketing platform for budding visual artists. Idealist does not offer the usual art reproductions. All works presented here have been created by select artists exclusively for this project. The artists in dialogue with the publisher and curator have chosen the paper grade as well as the number of pages available for their work conceptualizing the theme. The paper has been refined or processed where necessary. In this way, Idealist is able to grant each contributor maximum individual artistic freedom as well as a personal showroom that no other medium offers. The circulation is limited to 5,000 numbered copies.

Much like in a gallery, each issue of Idealist changes the theme of the group exhibition as a way to bind the extremely varied artists by demanding that they focus on this one theme in presenting their unique interpretation of it. The artists are completely free to choose how they wish to interpret the theme. However, they are asked to put the limits of a two-dimensional medium to the test while integrating the format into their conceptions.

This art platform is based on the ideals of a young and potent generation full of dreams and visions; a generation that seeks freedom, self-realization, diversity in all areas of life, and cross-cultural exchange. To realize these dreams takes commitment, creativity, openness, risk-taking, and above all Kampfgeist or a fighting spirit. Without Kampfgeist, no great challenge can be mastered, no dream will become a reality, which is why the first issue of Idealist is devoted to this fundamental topic that embodies not only this long-term project but also the spirit of all artists who have been struggling for years for the appreciation of their work and for their very existence. Fifteen up and coming artists from twelve different nations working in various genres created their own unique interpretations of the theme of fighting spirit or Kampfgeist.