“The Rhine-Neckar district, which is extremely open-minded and committed in many ways in matters of contemporary art, plays a courageous and exemplary pioneering role in comparison to the rest of the state. Over the decades, CLAPEKO van der Heide (*28.12.1940) alone has received 18 of the numerous public commissions to renowned artists in the metropolitan region, including several from the Rhine-Neckar District Office. The trained graphic artist and master student of Herbert KITZEL (1928-1978) at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe designed, among other things, the glass windows in the devotional room of the Weinheim District Hospital (1990), the bridge glazing in the Heidelberg District Office (2002) and currently the foyer of the new Louise-Otto Peters School in Hockenheim (2017). Now the “Kulturstiftung Rhein-Neckar-Kreis e.V.” is organising a tribute exhibition in the foyer of the Landratsamt (District Office) for its model artist on the occasion of his 80th birthday.” (Laudator: Prof. Dr. Christoph ZUSCHLAG, Institute of Art History, University of Bonn).