Angela Braster is herself an active member of the KiS association. She loves art and art history as well as exchanging ideas with people interested in art. During the tours through the showrooms of the Jablonka Collection, she imparts interesting facts about the artists and their works. Among others Sherrie Levine, Eric Fischl, Philipp Taaffe, Francesco Clemente, etc.

Rafael Jablonka is currently also exhibiting works by the New York-based photographer Platon from the series „Service“ in the display gallery of his collection, in conjunction with the exhibition „Platon – Photos from the Island of Paros“ at KiS.

Michael Krüger on the paintings of Giovanni Segantini – that was the theme for a reading at KiS in late October 2024. The audience encountered not only the author Michael Krüger, but also the publisher who, as the long-standing director of Carl Hanser Verlag, has followed and helped shape the German-language literary scene like no other. In conversation with Rafael Jablonka, he explored the significance of painting in all our lives. What is it about images that makes us want to spend a whole life with them? Why do people need images? They are „probably what remains of us and show what we have lost forever.“ 

A big jungle party. A nest full of eggs – or perhaps birds? Creatures on stilts. The children „read“ Ross Bleckner’s pictures in their own way – with an open mind and a keen eye. They then put their own versions of flowers and blossoms down on paper whilst painting. Juliana Haider, who organised the two children’s programmes under the theme ‘Reading Pictures’ in early July 2024, also brought along a large case full of musical instruments: rattles, drums, a triangle, singing bowls … in short, everything needed for a boisterous final concert to round off the visit to KiS.

„A wonderful musical summer evening“ – „This is beautiful“ – „The performance was outstanding.“ These and similar comments were heard from the audience at the concert at KiS in early July 2024. The cedag quartet performed two String Quartets No. 3: That of Philip Glass, based on the music originally composed for the film „Mishima – A Life in Four Chapters“. And the string quartet by Dmitri Shostakovich, composed in 1946, shortly after the war. The evening, featuring Martin Yavryan and Clemens Gahl (violins), Ernst Theuerkauf (viola) and Peter Polzer (cello), was a thank-you to the members of our KiS association. 

Although Ross Bleckner did not travel in person from New York to Seefeld for the opening of his exhibition at the end of June 2024, he did contribute his thoughts in the form of a written piece for the catalogue published to mark the exhibition. „Any interest I have in flowers is actually an interest I have in pictures of flowers,“ he says there, for example. For him, the images are placeholders for light and darkness. They allow us to find beauty when it seems as though the world around us is falling apart. The flower images on display at KiS date from 1995 to 2022 and mark different stages in Bleckner’s life, which he has translated into art. 

Pia Fries„ exhibition came to a close in March 2024 with an engaging discussion. Maria-Anna Meßner-Haidenthaler from the Tyrolean State Museum Ferdinandeum led the conversation with the artist and Rafael Jablonka. “Basically, I want to paint a good picture,„ said Pia Fries, summing up her approach in a simple statement. She then went on to explain what is important to her when painting. Colours, lines, but also the support of the painting are, for Fries, essential elements of the creative process. The support – in this particular case, the wood – plays an active role in the painting; “it has a say in the matter,” says the artist. In our photo, she is pictured with her husband, the artist Hans Brändli, and Rafael Jablonka. 

Every poem, even the shortest, can blossom into a full-blown poem; indeed, it might even burst into life, for everywhere there lie hidden, immeasurable reserves of splendour and cruelty, waiting patiently for us to discover them …

Thus begins „Erblühendes Poem“, a poem by Adam Zagajewski, which Alexandra Maria Jablonka (right) recited in February 2024 at a special evening for KiS members. Juliana Haider accompanied the texts by Rainer Maria Rilke, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Louise Glück, Emily Dickinson and others on the saxophone – in some cases with her own compositions. 

The advice of Friedhelm Mennekes, who introduced the works of Pia Fries at the opening of tausend : einerlei, related to the question of the meaning of art. In his experience, it should be lived, „because when things are shaky and wobbly, art helps.“ Mennekes, a Jesuit and expert who advises the Vatican, among others, on contemporary art, was inspired by the colours of „schwarze blumen“, the large-format work by Pia Fries. „She moves with the colour“. The guests at the opening evening were also enthusiastic about the works, including (in the photo from left) Melanie Wiener from the state's Department of Culture, Innsbruck City Councillor Uschi Schwarzl and Wilfriede Hribar.