Vernissage, H.W. Henze private collection

curated by Michael Kerstan
special guest Natascha Ungeheuer

To celebrate this special edition of Cantiere, Hans Werner Henze’s private paintings will be on exhibition for the first time from 12 July to 1 August. The «Henze Collector» exhibition at the Fortress curated by Michael Kerstan consists of over 30 paintings by Renzo Vespignani and the German artist Natascha Ungeheuer who is also the special guest for the opening. Once again, it is Henze who guides us through his friend Renzo Vespignani’s work with his words written in 1977. «Vespignani’s hand records realty corrosively and holds on to it with dogged determination. A realist painter, a virtuoso, controlled but deeply hurt. His eyes, tired and old, weighed down and saddened by knowledge, stoically, relentlessly investigate and explore the world around him, its people, dwellings, environments and landscapes. These paintings originating as meticulous drawings can be read and reread, like a book - almost a new form of art. An inconvenient man who does not make anyone’s life easy, not even his own, and who looks at the world not with cynicism but with great bitterness, gloomy because of the changes».

Michael Kerstan is Director of the Hans Werner Henze Foundation and was Henze’s assistant for many years. After a PhD in cultural-empirical sciences, he was Artistic Director of Jugendmusikfest Deutschlandsberg, Junge Kultur in Hallein and KulturRegion Stuttgart; he was director for the Italian premiere of Henze’s Phaedra at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; as a member of El Cimarron-Ensemble, he directed several premieres. He was also curator, together with C. Wolken, of a volume of essays by various authors on Henze (Komponist der Gegenwart, Berlin 2006).