Draft:Rolf Laven

Rolf Laven (born 1966 in Jülich ) is an Austrian-German sculptor, art-educator und professor.

Early life and career
Laven holds a master's degree in sculpturing plastic design of the Plastische Vormgeving with Han van Wetering at the Academie van beeldende Kunsten (Academy of Fine Arts) Maastricht. From 1990, he continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Michelangelo Pistoletto, Bruno Gironcoli, Herwig Zens and Edelbert Köb and completed a guest semester with Franz Graf. In 1990, Laven additionally worked on paper-sculptures at the Salzburg Summer Academy under alongside with his mentor and supervisor Andreas von Weizsäcker with Papierskulpturen at the Sommerakademie Salzburg. Laven graduated (master's degree) in 1994 at the Institute for Art Education and Art Sciences at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Herwig Zens, focusing on his thesis "The Viennese Kinetics’ and Its Influence on Pedagogy (Der Wiener Kinetismus und sein Einfluss auf die Pädagogik). Laven additionally holds amaster's degree in Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts with Michelangelo Pistoletto in 1998. In 2004, he successfully completed his doctoral studies and graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts, his research honored with summa cum laude. His doctoral thesis was titled "Franz Cizek - Reception and Relevance of the Viennese Youth Art Class in an International Context - No Prodigies or the Inner Drive of Necessity.It was published in the scientific series of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna: "Franz Cizek and Viennese Youth Art (Franz Cizek und die Wiener Jugendkunst)”. Professor Laven teaches and researches in the field of art didactics at the Institute of Secondary Education at the University College of Teacher Education Vienna in addition to his cooperative teaching activities at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, at the Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien and at the University of Vienna. Furthermore, Laven governs and teaches at the vocational school Volkshochschule Meidling the examination course ‘Art and Design’. Laven is the national chairman of the Professional Association of Austrian Art and Craft Teachers (BÖKWE) thus a member of the Federal Working Group on Visual Education, member of Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Forschung und Entwicklung im Bildungswesen, IG Bildende Kunst, and the IG Bildrecht and ICOM Österreich.

Artistic Work and projects
As a freelance-curator and research-associate, Laven maintained the Čižek-Nachlass im Wien Museum. Since 1992, he has realized projects and participated in several symposia and exhibitions. Laven is the guild master of the Innviertler Künstlergilde. Laven initiates and governs various artistic and scientific projects in public spaces in Austria. Two of his current projects are the transformation of the still-traveled Spalowskygasse street in front of a Viennese school into an artistic neighborhood oasis sand the implementation of a sculpture-trail in Braunau am Inn.

Weblinks

 * Official Website
 * Rolf Laven at Biogena Art Forum
 * Publications and papers on the document server Research Gate