Ekkehard Altenburger
Biography
Ekkehard Altenburger is a German artist whose sculptural practice is deeply rooted in a profound engagement with materiality, form, and the language of the built environment. His artistic foundation was forged in the rhythms of the natural world, growing up on a farm near the Swiss-German border an essential experience that continues to inform his work.
Altenburger’s formal training is marked by a rigorous blend of traditional craft and contemporary critical discourse. He first cultivated a hands-on understanding of structure as a master mason at the Gothic Cathedral of Schwäbisch Gmünd. His academic studies in sculpture began at the University of the Arts, Bremen, under figurative sculptor Waldemar Otto and conceptual Japanese artist Yuji Takeoka. An Erasmus scholarship took him to Edinburgh College of Art before he completed his MA at Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, in 1999, where his practice was shaped by dialogues with Rose Finn-Kelcey and Rebecca Warren.
After establishing his studio in London in 2000, he developed a successful international practice over nearly two decades, exhibiting widely and completing large-scale placemaking projects for collections across Europe, the UK, and Central America. A pivotal 2001 meeting with the late Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer cemented a lasting dialogue with architectural form that permeates his work. Alongside his studio practice, he has extensively shared his expertise as a guest lecturer and professor at institutions including Kingston University, the University of the Arts Bremen, and Saimaa University of Applied Sciences, Finland, and has undertaken prestigious residencies such as at Sculpture Space in Utica, NY.
In 2016, Altenburger relocated to Hong Kong to serve as Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, a role he held for close to a decade. He moved his base to Tokyo in the summer of 2025 and now works between Japan and Vietnam.
Altenburger’s current research evolves along two intrinsically linked trajectories that critically investigate the nature of making today. The first is a deep, years-long investment in material mastery and human craftsmanship, developed through profound research into Vietnamese lacquer painting. Working periodically in a Hanoi studio under the guidance of artist Canh Dinh, he engages with this ancient technique in a slow, meticulous dialogue with tradition. The second trajectory explores the frontiers of digital fabrication, employing parametric algorithms and robotics to interrogate time, duration, and artistic agency.
His work, held in numerous public and private collections
worldwide, has been exhibited internationally. Recent years have seen a focused presentation of his lacquer painting research in exhibitions in Hanoi, Hong Kong, and Germany. This unique position bridging European sculptural traditions, Asian craft heritage, and digital futures forms the core of his artistic inquiry.
Ekkehard Altenburger
EKKEHARD ALTENBURGER
Academic Qualification
1998-99 MA fine Art (1st Degree) Chelsea College of Art, London
1997-98 Diploma Fine Art (1st Degree) Hochschule für Künste Bremen
1995-96 Erasmus Exchange Edinburgh College of Art/ Sculpture department
1991-95 Fine Art Sculpture Hochschule für Künste Bremen, Sculpture Departement
1988-91 Master Mason Cathedral of Schwäbisch Gmünd
1983-86 Apprentice Stonemason Jestetten/ Germany International Academic Positions
2017 Assistant Professor for Sculpture, Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, with focus on digital fabrication and robotics.
2015 Research fellow Saima University of Applied Sciences, Finland (Imatra Campus) Lecture and individual tutorials MA students
2015 2014 Guest Professor at University of the Arts, Bremen (Germany), Sculpture department, (lecture, group and individual tutorials)
2008-11 Visiting lecturer Canterbury College of Art (BA & MA level across Fine Art subject) (lecture, group and individual tutorials, external assessments)
2006 Visiting lecturer Goldsmiths, University of London, Fine Art department (lecture)
2005-06 Visiting lecturer Kingston College (BA Hons) Art & Design (lecture and individual tutorials)
Exhibitions (Selection)
2025 Creative Dialogue, Collaborative project with Prof. Tadeas Podracky,Collaborative project with Prof. Tadeas Podracky, AVA Gallery, Hong Kong All In / Tất tay , A survey of Vietnamese Lacquer works from 2023-025 Solo Exhibition at PHẠM HÀ HẢI Art Space, Hanoi/Vietnam Art Asia, Hong Kong Exhibition Centre, Gallery Soil
2024 EN ROUTE / 3812 Gallery Hong Kong. Four works in Vietnamese Lacquer Technique and one sandstone sculpture -03/ (E) Motion Digital Possibilities / Shenzhen Art Museum, China
2023 Amber, Gallery Lunette Hanoi Exhibited: a series of Lacquer paintings – “True and False, Burg Ranfels, Bavaria, Germany, Sculpture in Stainless Steel
2021 CITYA 2021: City as a Medium, Curated by Janet FONG, Hong Kong, Koo Ming Kown Exhibition Gallery, Lee Shau Kee Communication & Visual Arts (CVA) Building, Hong Kong Baptist University;
17 September – 16 November 2021 2020 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
2020 Royal Academy of the Arts, London Work: White is black
2019 Border Lines, Maddox Arts, London Art Central, Hong Kong (with Maddox Arts, London)
2018 Plus One, APT Gallery, London
2017 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London Touchstone, APT Gallery, London Focus Skulptur, Kultur.ch, Dottingen (Switzerland)
2016 Sculpture in the city, City of London Royal Academy Summer show 2016, Piccadilly, London Taking Shape, Cube Gallery London Cheeseburn Sculpturepark 2016 (Northumberland, UK)
2015 SCULPTURAL2015, Coombe Trenchard, West Devon Visual Arts Award, Sala Brazil, Embassy of Brazil, London Sculpture in the city, City of London LARES, Saima University, Lappeenranta, Finland(s)
2014 STEIN, Gallery Flut, HFK Bremen(s) On Form, Asthall Manor Oxfordshire ArtKapsule @ Koleksiyon, Design festival Clerkenwell, London SWITCH, Pulchri Gallery Den Haag NL
2013 Royal Academy Summer show 2013, Royal Academy Piccadilly, London A Change of Heart, Royal Botanic gardens, Leicester University and Richard Attenborough Centre Drawing the Line, Koleksiyon, Klerkenwell, London
2012 THE BUTTERFLY EFFECt, Koleksiyon, Clerkenwell, London Royal Academy Summer show 2012, Royal Academy Piccadilly, London On Form, Asthall Manor, Oxfordshire BOXENSTOP, Kulturtankstelle Doettingen, Swizerland
2011 Royal Academy Summer show, Royal Academy Piccadilly, London Print Out, Richard Attenborough centre, Leicester Sculpture @ Glyndebourne Opera, Glyndebourne H2O Chelsea Future Space, London Project-Ion, APT gallery London(s) Skulpturenausstellung, Museum Rehmann (Switzerland)
2010 Carlos Woods Arte (Guatemala City(s)
Herbert Read gallery Canterbury
Jerwood drawing Price
2009 Jerwood Gallery and touring throughout the UK
PUBLIC PROPOSALS, Chelsea future space London
DIALOGUE Harlow/Newhall ZigZag Building
Public Collections
2012-13 House for a Gordian Knot, University of Nottingham
2010 Sophrosyne II, Guatemala City, Museum of Contemporary Art, Guatemala
2010 Harlow Arts Trust, Sophrosyne I (for Lady Gibbert, founder of Harlow Arts Trust)
2007 Give & Take, Schoepfheim (Switzerland) Schoepfheim Kunstverein
2002 Fallen Arch, Museum Caldas Da Rainha, Portugal
Commissions/Public Sculpture (Selection)
2014-15 Thoughts in a bent curve, a large-scale sculpture in Norwegian Granite for the new
Volkswagen Financial Headquarter in Milton Keynes, Collection: Volkswagen
2015 Cochlea, laminated granite sculpture, Greenwich, London, (for Paynes and
Borthwick)
2007-10 Negative Falls with Thames Stone, Grosvenor Waterside London Westminster
(Berkeley Group)
2009 Aesculapian Arch, Milton Keynes Central Hospital
2008 “Morningthoughts”, Archbishops pallace Maidstone / Kent
2007 Chelsea & Westminster Hospital London / Chelsea
Sculpture “Dopplereffect” and courtyard design (with HML architects)
2006 Contemporary War Memorial in Kilkenny Limestone, Streatham Memorial
gardens, London
2005 Queen Elizabeth Hospital Gateshead, 2 marble sculptures, and design/
implementation of a rock garden with sculptural element
Awards and Achievements
2020 Winner, 6th e-Learning Excellence Awards at the European Conference on eLearning 2020
2015 Laser Art Residency, Saimaa University of Applied Sciences, Finland
2005 Sculpture Space (New York/Utica) Residency Programme
2003 London Visual Arts Grant
2002 Royal Society of British Sculptors Bursary Award
2000-01 Year of the Artist Residency Programme /London
1999 Video Award Bremen 1999
1998-99 DAAD (German Academic Exchange programme) Award Bonn/London
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Publications (Selection)
- Altenburger, E. (2020). “Making Something from Nothing: Creative Strategies for eLearning in Lab-based Environs”. In D. Remenyi (Ed.), 6th e-Learning Excellence Awards
2020: An Anthology of Case Histories (pp. 1 – 16). Academic Conferences International.
- 25 Jahre Video Kunst Forderpreis Bremen, Senator für Kultur, Bremen, pp.112-113 (2017)
- Nanotecture, UK Phaidon, Rebecca Roke, ISBN 9780714870601, 2016
- Saimaa University of Applied Sciences 2015
- Art/Laser/Lares ISBN 978-952-7055-21-2, (2015)
- Grosvenor Waterside, Cultural Placemaking, ISBN 978-0-9565690-0-4 (by Jean
Wainwright, UCA), 2011 produced by FUTURECITIES
- Jerwood Drawing Prize, ISBN 978-0-9563570-0-7 JCF, London, 2009
- Highjack Reality, DeptfordX, ISBN 978-0-9547071-2-5, London, 2008
- Sculpture space (The book), ISBN 97809795596902, Utica, New York, 2005
- Corporate mentality – Alexandra Mir and John Kelsey, ISBN 0-9711193-1-7, 2003
Presentations (Selection)
- The Hand in the Age of the Machine: Vietnamese Lacquer as Timeless Technology, Miller
Theatre, Asia Society Hong Kong Center, 5 March 2026
- Rhino Europe User Webinar: Grasshopper in art, new way of approaching classic norms of
Making
- “Lab/Skill based learning under COVID-19”, presented in European Conference on eLearning 2020, October 2020
Other Professional Sharing Activities (Selection)
“Things that are there because they are not there, like a shadow or death” German/British
artist Prof. Markus Vater
- “Sound Space as a Generator of Reactive Locations and its Relationship to Environment”
(co-host and organisation of talk)
- Research presentation to students and academics at Nagoya Zokei University of Art &
Design
- Research presentation to academic panel at AVA/Kaitak, January 2020
- Asia Society Hong Kong Center Program: Disrupting Creativity: Defining Art in the AI Era
Panel Discussion, December 2018
- CCL presentation series for students and academics at AVA, February 2019 and 2020
● FRG Research presentation AVA for students and academics, December 2018
