Ekkehard Altenburger (1966)

 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

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