Special exhibitions
Page 12: “Transformed Gods – Classical Sculptures from the Museo del Prado on View in <strong>Dresden</strong>” The special exhibition ”Golden Dragon – White Eagle” in the State Rooms of the Residenzschloss SPECIAL EXH I B ItIONS I N DRESDEN, SAXONY AN D GERMANY I N <strong>2009</strong> Director-General’s Department • Goldener Drache – Weißer Adler: Kunst im Dienste der Macht am Kaiserhof von China und am sächsisch-polnischen Hof (1644 – 1795) · Golden Dragon – White Eagle: Art and Power at the Courts of Chinese Emperors and Saxon-Polish Rulers (1644 – 1795) Exhibition by the <strong>Staatliche</strong> <strong>Kunstsammlungen</strong> <strong>Dresden</strong> and the Palace Museum, Beijing. The exhibition was under the patronage of Federal President Horst Köhler and Hu Jintao, President of the People’s Republic of China. Until 11th January <strong>2009</strong> (from 11th October 2008) Residenzschloss, 2nd floor · Rulers required not only real power but also outward demonstrations of power and prestige. This exhibition focused on similarities and differences in the employment of the arts, court ceremonial and collecting policies. For the first time, works of art from the Imperial Palace of China in Beijing were displayed alongside objects from the <strong>Staatliche</strong> <strong>Kunstsammlungen</strong> <strong>Dresden</strong> and the court of the Chinese Emperors, with its diverse treasures, was directly compared with the Saxon-Polish court, a centre of the European fashion of ‘chinoiserie’. Martin Eder, “In den Nachmittag geflüstert” (Whispered into Afternoon), 2007; Courtesy of Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig/Berlin • MADONNA MEETS MAO. Ausgewählte Werke aus der Sammlung der Yageo Foundation, Taiwan (Madonna meets Mao. Selected Works from the Collection of the Yageo Foundation, Taiwan) Exhibition by the <strong>Staatliche</strong> <strong>Kunstsammlungen</strong> <strong>Dresden</strong> in association with the Yageo Foundation · Until 11th January <strong>2009</strong> (from 31st October 2008) Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau Since the mid-1990s Pierre T. M. Chen, owner of a globally operating electronics company, has collected outstanding works by artists such as Francis Bacon, Georg Baselitz, Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Anselm Kiefer, Gerhard Richter, Peter Doig and Andreas Gursky. His collection also includes a wide range of works by modern Chinese painters from the first half of the 20th century as well as contemporary Asian art. In <strong>Dresden</strong> the full spectrum of this unusual collection was shown for the first time. Western and oriental art engaged in an unconventional form of dialogue. • Martin Eder. Der dunkle Grund (Martin Eder. The Dark Abyss) Exhibition by the <strong>Staatliche</strong> <strong>Kunstsammlungen</strong> <strong>Dresden</strong> 1st February – 26th April <strong>2009</strong> Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau Martin Eder is one of the most successful among the younger generation of German artists. This exhibition showed more than 30 paintings from the past six years. Apparently harmless cute kittens, as well Contemporary art from the Hoffmann Collection in the Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau: “To the Milky Way by Bicycle” as girls depicted in lascivious poses, reflect banal images from our everyday culture and ostensibly evoke an impression of cosy familiarity, often with a seemingly erotic connotation. Yet inscribed into these images is a conspicuous aura of doubt. Against the background of the constant trivialisation and the overstimulation and dulling of our senses, the clichés of our visual consumer culture become modern actors in a “comédie humaine” which evokes both affinity and uncertainty. • Mit dem Fahrrad zur Milchstraße. Zeitgenössische Kunst aus der Sammlung Hoffmann, Berlin (To the Milky Way by Bicycle. Contemporary Art from the Hoffmann Collection, Berlin) Exhibition by the <strong>Staatliche</strong> <strong>Kunstsammlungen</strong> <strong>Dresden</strong> in association with the Hoffmann Collection, Berlin 18th June – 20th September <strong>2009</strong> Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau Obligated only to their own interests and inclinations, Erika and Rolf Hoffmann began collecting art in the late 1960s. They devoted particular attention to the violation of artistic rules and the transgression of limits, which results in new and extraordinary things being revealed through ceaseless grappling with contemporary life. Among their first acquisitions were works by the group ZERO. Since then, a collection has grown in which quite different eras, items and media have been brought together in an exciting synthesis. 13