what's on
Germany exhibitions guide 01/09/2008 00:00
Ken Thomson provides an overview of the most important current exhibitions in Germany.
There may not be much going on during the traditional summer downtime in museums across Germany, but you can’t accuse us of not pulling out all the stops to bring you the best of what’s out there. Rupprecht Geiger celebrated his 100th birthday recently and the Neue Nationalgalerie is putting on an extended party for the artist. Just when your garden's in full bloom, so is an exhibition examining the historical development of horticultural aesthetics in Nuernburg. From north to south, we have exhibitions which will be more than worth dragging yourself out for. No excuses, then. Berlin Exhibitions Azerbaijan – land of fire Museen Dahlem, Ethnologisches Museum Azerbaijan has found itself in an unhappy position for centuries. Slap, bang in the middle between Russia, Persia and the Ottoman Empire, the country has been invaded, occupied and generally messed around since the beginning of time. But it’s not all been bad news. Centuries of political domination by various neighbouring powers led to the development of diverse styles of artistic expression. This show comprises of art and cultural pieces which are usually only to be found in museums in their homeland. A once-in-a-lifetime chance to see art from a country on the borders. Rupprecht Geiger Centenary Neue Nationalgalerie Rupprecht Geiger celebrated his 100th birthday this year and now the National Gallery is paying tribute to him with an exhibition of selected works. Of course, having lived such a long life – and having had such a correspondingly long career – there’s a lot of stuff to get through. The works on show here cover the range of the artist’s development from the 1940s to the present and fill the Nationalgalerie in its entirety from the graphic room to the upper hall where some of Geiger’s most recent installations are shown in a new light in the wide open space of Mies van der Rohe's glass hall. World Sand Collection. Qutri – the diagonal as bridge Installation by Elvira Wersche Pergamonmuseum, Museum für Islamische Kunst Elvira Wersche has collected sand from 600 places across the globe – and brought samples to Berlin. Now she plans to spend 14 days in September creating a floor mosaic from it based on an original design from a mosque in Isfahan, Iran. Photos of what she’s got in mind suggest that the work will be quite beautiful: soothing repetitions of patterns made from the simplest of materials and colours. What’s more you can watch her while she’s about her work – or go along to a special performance on September 25 when the floor installation will be destroyed. Vom Flakturm zum Trümmerberg Berliner-Unterwelten-Museum until October I don’t know about you, but when I’m out and about in the city I live in – Berlin – I’m usually so pushed for time and harassed that I barely manage to glance in anything other than the direction I’m heading in. A shame really, because there’s so much more to any city than what simply meets the eye. This series of guided tours into the Berlin underworld promises to reveal previously unseen sides of the city. Visit the chambers that terrified burghers of Berlin crouched in during the air raids of WW2 or check out the city’s extensive sewer system. A chance to slow down for once and experience another side of the capital. Hiroshi Sugimoto Neue Nationalgalerie until 5 October Sugimoto is a photographer known for his evocation of stillness and calm whose work is unfortunately not often put on show in Europe. This exhibition comprises some 70 of his photographs and one sculpture and should familiarize viewers with the artist’s oeuvre pretty quickly. The work on show encompass the range of Sugimoto’s consuming passions – for example, the relationship between reality and representation; time and transience – and feature examples from his new series ‘Lightening Fields’. Hamburg Exhibitions From the antique to the contemporary. Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe 25 – 28 September This is the eighth time that the Fine Art Fair Hamburg has taken place in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe. In the meantime, the fair has grown in size and received international recognition – so it must be doing something right. The focus of this year’s show is on juxtaposing older art with the contemporary. The latter is being represented by the likes of Rafael Jablonka and Philip Taaffe. Mirror of secret wishes. Four centuries of still life (Spiegel geheimer Wünsche. Stillleben aus vier Jahrhunderten) Kunsthalle - Galerie der Gegenwart - Hubertus-Wald-Forum Until 5 October 2008 Still life has fascinated artists and viewers alike for centuries and no wonder. It encompasses not only the artist’s ability to capture detail in all its fulsomeness but also the social discourses of epochs and peoples. This richly fitted exhibition examines four centuries worth of the genre and features work by masters ranging from Monet and Renoir to Picasso. A sight for sore eyes and a must see for fans of fine painting. The fine cuisine of the Orient. Fabulous pleasures from 1001 Nights (Die feine Küche des Orients. Märchenhafte Genüsse aus 1001 Nacht) Spicy's Gewürzmuseum until 26 October Spicy’s Gewürzmuseum claims to be the one and only museum of spices in the world and it’s certainly a one off experience. Arising from Hamburg’s tradition as a European centre of the import of spices, the museum examines the history of the city’s spice trade. This particular exhibition takes a look at recipes from the Middle East which use our favourite flavourings to such great effect. Alongside the main exhibits there will be special guest appearances from star cooks such as TV chef Erich Häusler who will be putting the spices through their paces. The art of esoteric buddhism (Kunst des esoterischen Buddhismus) Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst Until 30 November A friend of mine who’s often troubled by excesses of self-pity told me last week that she has recently discovered Buddhism. I’ve got to say, I was sceptical about her new-found source of inner peace, especially as it seems to have abandoned her in just a few short days leaving me to field the usual phone calls during which she grumbles about this or that particular piece of relative trivia. Easter mysticism tends to leave me cold. However, this exhibition, which examines Shingon Buddhism and its associated artwork, is pretty interesting. Shingon, the most important strain of the religion in Japan, has given rise to a mass of beautiful painting and sculpture which evokes more of a sense of peace in me than ever the thinking behind them could. The next time my friend calls, I’m going to send her packing in the direction of this show. Then at least I can have some peace. Nürnberg Exhibitions "Lust und Lieb hat mich beweget..." Garden culture in Nürnberg Stadtmuseum Fembohaus until 23 November New balconies have recently been built onto the house we live in. It’s been fascinating to watch the green-fingered reactions of our various neighbours. While we’ve done our respectable bit to add a bit of greenery, one of our neighbours has gone out of his way to create a small garden of Eden, 1.5 X 5 metres in size. His balcony is groaning under the weight of his botanical garden-scale collection of hardy perennials; his bank account must also have a curiously empty feel minus the sum he’ll have spent on it all. I can’t really understand it but people love gardens and have done for centuries. This exhibition explores this fascination using Nürnberg as case study. Covering everything from the development of landscaping to the ever-growing range of plants available to gardeners, it’s probably one for my neighbour. The trouble is he hasn’t been seen for weeks: he’s widely assumed to have gone missing somewhere between the hibiscus and the basil. Dresden Exhibitions Menschen im Gasthaus Geschichten aus vier Jahrhunderten Stadtmuseum Dresden Until 5 October 2008 There’s an old adage where I come from that the two subjects you should steer clear of in pubs are politics and religion. Come to think of it, where I’m from politics and religion are almost indistinguishable, so that’s only one thing you shouldn’t mention over a pint of special. But, nevertheless, what a tedious piece of advice which has probably been responsible for hundreds of thousands of dull nights out. Just as well that no such pieces of folk wisdom have been doing the rounds off Dresden’s drinking shops over the last four centuries. The city’s cafes, pubs and speak easies have traditionally been places of political and religious sedition as well as artistic and literary discourse: places where anarchists from the west and writers from the east and all manner of individuals in between have chewed the cud. The long history of the city’s drinking establishments and the purposes to which they have been put is illustrated and documented in this exhibition.
5000 years of history and culture in the Caucasus
until 16 November
until 5 October
11 - 25 September
September 2008
Copyright Expatica
0 reactions to this article
Best summer photo: Ethnic beauty at T’nalak festival
Expatica reader Ronald de Jong captured this image at the T’nalak festival in the Philippines.
September 2008
| mon | tue | wed | thu | fri | sat | sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 |
Advertisement
internaxx
| Index | Last | Var.(%) |
|---|---|---|
| BEL 20 | 3066.15 | -3.13 |
| DAX | 6279.57 | -2.91 |
| IBEX 30 | 11480.1 | -3.11 |
| CAC 40 | 4304.01 | -3.22 |
| FTSE 100 | 5362.1 | -2.50 |
| AEX | 397.17 | -2.25 |
| DJIA | 11188.23 | -2.99 |
| Nasdaq | 2259.04 | -3.20 |
| MIB 30 | 28833 | -2.82 |
| TSX Composite | 12814.14 | -2.46 |
| ASX | 4957.4 | -1.85 |
| Hang seng | 19846.32 | -2.66 |
| Straits Times | 2579.72 | -1.76 |
also on expatica
- Join the Expatica community Meet, make friends and network with other internationals just like you
- What is your life like as an “expat”? Share your expat experience as a panel member of the European Expat Panel
- Expatica’s 2008 Expat Survey Expatica is conducting an audience survey to better understand our readers.Take the survey here.
