Volker Mixsa (1944-2016) was a German sculptor. Born in Meiningen in southern Thuringia in 1944, he lived in Dresden since 1962, where he completed his training as a toolmaker and worked for the blacksmith Karl Bergmann. Mixsa perfected his training in an evening course at the Academy of Fine Arts under Professor Walder Arnold and completed his studies with a master craftsman's certificate.
Art and concrete - that is by no means a contradiction. After Einhart Grotegut, whose "concrete sheets" were used to create a calendar in 2008, Volker Mixsa is another artist who is recognized beyond the borders of Dresden for his work with this material. Volker Mixsa has made a name for himself with his stainless steel sculptures. They are located in public spaces - in Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Bonn, among other places - and attract attention due to their lightness and variety of forms. In the previous Collaborative Research Center 528, he worked with the new material carbon reinforced concrete and created sculptures that bear his unmistakable signature. He utilized the advantages of the material: the works he created are slender and elegant, airy and light - yet durable.
In 2016, Gürtler, the former Greifswald cathedral pastor, invited the blacksmith to the Decade of Peace. Originally, he planned to light a large forge fire on the cathedral lawn and demonstrate how ploughshares can be forged from long swords - something Mixsa had already done before during set-up times on the topic of peace. Unfortunately, this event could not take place as Mixsa was already ill at the time and died shortly afterwards.
The memorial service that Matthias Gürtler had now organized for him aimed to shed light on various facets of the man and artist. On this evening, his texts were read out in public for the first time - texts by a "thoughtful contemporary" who refused to be restricted.
As part of the CRC/Transregio/TRR 280's public relations work, a video recording was made for the memorial service on November 14, 2023. With the finished version of the video, it is now possible to relive the successful event.
More information in the article.