The Berlin sculptor Hans Uhlmann (1900-1975) was a “political prisoner” from October 1933 to May 1935. In prison, he not only wrote an extremely readable diary, but also developed ideas for sculptures made of wire. After his release, he built them, photographed them and then destroyed the works for fear of discovery. The photographs have survived and form the starting point for a history of ideas of drawing in space since the 18th century and their realization by Marcel Duchamp, Julio González and Alexander Calder. After 1945, drawing in space in the form of iron sculpture, kinetics and concrete art had a significant influence on contemporary outdoor space, followed by minimalist spatial stagings. Recent examples turn the publication into a historical and contemporary panorama.

MICHAEL GLASMEIER (*1951) is an art historian, essayist, publicist, curator, and writer. From from 1992 to 2016, he was professor at the art academies in Weimar, Braunschweig and, most recently, Bremen. He lives in Berlin.

ANNELIE LÜTGENS (*1956) is an art historian, curator and publicist. She has worked at the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg and was head of the Graphic Collection at the Berlinische Galerie from 2011 to 2022. Among other things, she curated the 2017 retrospective on Jeanne Mammen.