30 Years of Stella Sculptures in Jena

For 30 years, artist Frank Stella’s steel sculptures have been a defining feature of Ernst-Abbe-Platz in Jena. This anniversary will be celebrated on Thursday, October 29, 2026, with an inspiring program. Under the title “Stella in the Spotlight,” artists, art lovers, cultural patrons, JENOPTIK AG, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, and the City of Jena are jointly inviting the people of Jena to rediscover the works of the American painter, sculptor, and object artist through exhibitions, installations, and live performances.  

“The fact that Jena is home to the largest sculpture park dedicated to the artist Frank Stella outside the U.S. is not widely known among the public. This diverse event is intended to bring the sculptures out of the shadows and into the light—in the truest sense of the word,” says Johannes Schleußner, Head of the Department of Culture. “Various stakeholders from business, academia, the arts and culture, politics, and public administration have pooled their expertise and perspectives for this multifaceted project. It is precisely this interdisciplinary collaboration that makes it so special—and serves as a prime example of how much a city can achieve when it unites its strengths toward a common goal. My thanks go to everyone involved who provided this important impetus and contributed to its implementation with great dedication.

Close Ties to JENOPTIK AG  

The themes of optics, light, and innovation—and thus JENOPTIK AG—are inextricably linked to the internationally renowned artist Stella in Jena. It is primarily thanks to the great commitment of the then-CEO Lothar Späth that the sculpture park was inaugurated on the square in 1996. That same year, the JENOPTIK AG gallery in the Ernst Abbe Tower presented hand drawings and a collage by Frank Stella in an exhibition. Since 1994, the company’s own exhibitions have highlighted the intersections of business, technology, art, light, and perception. Since 2022, as part of the “tangente digital art” series, the company has been presenting digital art projections on the Ernst Abbe Tower and at the JENOPTIK AG headquarters, curated by the Huber & Treff Gallery. This fall, for the tenth edition of this light and media art series—which also begins on October 29—the focus is on Stella’s work.

Discovering Sculptures with Your Ears

The anniversary celebration, however, is about much more than just viewing. In their concert-style performance “Echovalley,” the duo Reinhart Hammerschmidt and Tim Helbig will use one of Stella’s sculptures as a resonating body and bring it to life with various objects such as violin bows and sponges. Microphones capture the vibrations of the metal, and a live electronics setup processes and transforms the signals. The unfolding soundscape is an invitation to discover the sculpture with all your senses. Space for new visual discoveries emerges when media artist Robert Seidel covers the solid steel structures with constantly shifting light projections. Like a skin, the complex forms will drape over the sculptures.

Inspiration for Young People

In several projects, students from art and music classes at the Christliches Gymnasium Jena have approached Stella’s work from new perspectives. A piece of minimal music by Terry Riley will be performed; large-format prints and sculptures can be discovered in the university’s foyer; and an installation made of scrap metal parts will be on display, coming to life every quarter of an hour.  

The University of Jena’s Debate Society invites you to join the discussion on art in public spaces. “Art in public spaces strikes a chord: it invites us to marvel and reflect, to discuss, to question, and above all, to get involved. The planned redesign of Ernst-Abbe-Platz in particular makes it clear that our city is not merely planned and administered, but that we can shape it together. With this collaborative project, we as a city are committing to preserving this art form and cordially invite you to rediscover Jena’s cultural heritage, contribute your own perspectives, and discuss together how art shapes our city and should shape it in the future,” said Department Head Schleußner.

Die Beteiligten von „Stella ins Licht“ vor einer der Frank-Stella-Skulpturen auf dem Ernst-Abbe-Platz.

© Stadt Jena

Visible Signs of Stella’s Honorary Doctorate

Initiated by the Jena art historian Franz-Joachim Verspohl, then head of the Chair of Art History at Friedrich Schiller University, Stella received an honorary doctorate on February 6, 1996. Verspohl described Stella as one of the most renowned artists of the late 20th century. The honor was explicitly intended to follow in the footsteps of the honorary doctorate awarded to the French sculptor Auguste Rodin and to highlight Stella’s significant artistic achievement: Building on his background in painting, Stella developed sculptural objects that transcend the traditional boundaries of the image and open up new forms of spatial perception and experience. For the sculptures installed in Jena, Stella chose a material and formal language that seeks to combine industrial austerity, structural complexity, and historical significance. “From the perspective of the University’s art collection, Frank Stella’s works are far more than striking objects in public space: As visible symbols of his honorary doctorate, they reflect the academic tradition of honoring artistic innovation and openly discussing social change,” says Dr. Babett Forster, director of the Art Collection (FSU Jena).

Ernst-Abbe-Platz in Transition

Since the sculptures were installed, Ernst-Abbe-Platz has aged and is therefore set to be redesigned to make it more attractive. Because the area heats up particularly quickly—especially on hot days—due to its location between tall buildings, there is a focus on climate-friendly measures. Through the “Adaptation of Urban Spaces to Climate Change” funding program, 85 percent of the redesign costs will be co-financed by the federal government. The amount of green space on the square is to be significantly increased; in the future, water features will be incorporated, and the Frank Stella sculptures will be attractively showcased. They will be positioned so that they “communicate” with one another. An information panel is planned to provide details about the artist and his works.

Pictured: As if made for “Stella in the Light”: A beam of light falls on one of the Frank Stella sculptures on Ernst-Abbe-Platz. Standing in front of it are Katharina Davideit, Xenia Reich-Hemmerich, Katrin Lauterbach, Armin Huber, Dr. Babett Forster, Johannes Schleußner, Head of the Cultural Affairs Department, and Anne Risse (from left). On October 29, the 30th anniversary of the Jena Sculpture Park will be celebrated with light, sound, performances, and other artistic events.

Frank Stella and Jena

Frank Stella, who died in New York on May 4, 2024, at the age of 87, was once inspired by the fundamental transformation taking place around the former Zeiss factory during a visit to Jena. He artistically addressed the structural changes of the 1990s and offered sculptures from his “Hudson River Valley Series,” created in 1995, to be presented as public art.

Stella donated the sculpture “Garrison” to Friedrich Schiller University in Jena; “Newburgh,” “Peekskill,” and “Bear Mountain” are part of the JENOPTIK AG art collection. With the title of his series, Stella referred to the Hudson River Valley, which played an important role during industrialization. Similarly, Ernst-Abbe-Platz underwent a transformation—from a purely industrial site to what is now a public square serving as a university campus and service center with a medical center and shopping mall.

Frank Stella remained closely connected to Jena, thanks to the dedication of committed art lovers in the city. Thus, following the 1996 exhibition, another highly acclaimed exhibition was held in Jena in 2001 and again in 2011 at the former streetcar depot, organized by Prof. Dr. h.c. Martin S. Fischer, senior professor, together with his wife, the cultural studies scholar Dr. Barbara Happe. Professor Fischer and Barbara Happe maintained close contact with Frank Stella throughout his life and closely supported his work in Jena as well as the current celebration through the Denkzeichen Foundation.  

“Stella in the Spotlight”

• Date: Thursday, October 29, 2026
• Start: 6:00 p.m.
• Location: Ernst-Abbe-Platz
• Free admission

The program and information about Frank Stella and his work in Jena can be found on the new website here: http://www.frank-stella-in-jena.de/

The Jena Sculpture Park

• Peekskill, 1995, patinated steel, cast stainless steel, coated sheet steel, south side of EAPl., to the right of the second stair tower, Jenoptik
• Bear Mountain, 1995, cast and laminated stainless steel and a copper alloy, south side of EAPl., to the right of Peekskill, Jenoptik 
• Newburgh, 1995, cast and sheet stainless steel parts, painted steel, tin alloy, centrally located between Building 15 and the university building at Carl-Zeiss-Str. 3, Jenoptik 
• Garrison, 1995, cast stainless steel and stainless steel sheet, north side of EAPl., at the western passageway to Krautgasse, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena  

For his works, Stella worked with found forms, which he cast, assembled, and treated with alloys. He added rods, metal foil, and coils of steel strip to fill the spaces between the metal forms.

About the reCoVer Foundation for Cultural Consulting

Founded in 2021, the reCoVer Foundation aims to provide targeted support to local cultural practitioners, initiatives, and nonprofit organizations. Through its funding, the foundation creates space for artistic and cultural projects and helps to secure existing structures, foster new initiatives, and further develop the city’s cultural diversity. The reCoVer Foundation houses the Cultural Office, which serves as the hub for cultural consulting in Jena. As a connecting and coordinating structure, it creates the conditions for many cross-sector projects, enabling ideas to be brought together, collaborations to be established, and projects to be realized jointly.

About the Friends’ Association “Ein KUNSTHAUS für Jena e.V.”

Since its founding, the support association “Ein KUNSTHAUS für Jena e.V.” has been committed to making the visual arts in Jena visible, accessible, and tangible. Through exhibitions, educational programs, and public events, the association brings diverse people together with art. It aims to spark interest, sharpen awareness of art in public spaces, and stimulate discussion about the role art plays in a vibrant city. To this end, the association regularly collaborates with partners from the arts, culture, academia, education, and business.

Together, they develop projects and initiatives that create access, connect perspectives, and facilitate cultural exchange. At the heart of this is the vision of an art center for Jena: a place where the city’s significant art collection finds a permanent home while also serving as a space for encounters, exchange, and new perspectives. After all, art should not merely be preserved. It should remain alive, be rediscovered and experienced time and again—and contribute to an open social discourse in Jena.

About Jenoptik

Jenoptik is a globally active technology group operating in the photonics market. Its key markets include, above all, semiconductor, medical, measurement, and transportation technology. Approximately 4,300 employees work for the Jenoptik Group worldwide; its headquarters are in Jena, Germany. JENOPTIK AG is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and is included in the MDax and TecDax indices. In fiscal year 2025, Jenoptik generated revenue of 1,046 million euros. Since its founding in 1991, Jenoptik has supported projects related to light, optics, and perception. Jenoptik organizes its own small exhibition series, “tangente,” which has been running since 1994. Since 2022, it has been relocated as “tangente digital art,” featuring large-scale projections on the facade of the Ernst-Abbe Tower, Jenoptik’s headquarters—visible to everyone in public spaces. In addition, Jenoptik supports art projects in the city of Jena and the surrounding area. The company’s own art collection comprises around 500 works, which employees can borrow to decorate their offices.