- Mittwoch, 09. Mai 2012 – Freitag, 31. August 2012 In meinem Kalender speichern
Daniel Libeskind: Architecture for the Angel of History
Germany has Daniel Libeskind to thank for several museums of great national significance, including the Jewish Museum in Berlin and the Military History Museum in Dresden.
Even before its opening in September 2001, the Jewish Museum was overwhelmed with its success. With over 8 million visitors from 40 countries, it has become the most visited cultural attraction in Berlin. What the architecture attempts to express externally is also the content of the museum: the broken history of the Jews in Germany, the horrors of the Holocaust, and what can be learned from this.
Libeskind’s extension to Dresden’s Military History Museum dramatically interrupts the building’s symmetry, its massive, five-story wedge of concrete and steel slicing through the center of the 135-year-old original structure. The new façade’s openness and transparency pushes through the opacity and rigidity of the existing building just as German democracy pushed aside the country’s authoritarian past. The museum’s redesign creates the setting for a reconsideration of that past in a city annihilated by allied bombing at the end of WWII. Inside the wedge, a viewing platform provides breathtaking views of the city as it is today, while the wedge itself points towards the area where the firebombing of Dresden began, creating a dramatic space for reflection.
The exhibition “Daniel Libeskind: Architecture for the Angel of History” will present photographs of these and other living expressions of memory designed by Daniel Libeskind.
This exhibition is in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Washington, DC.
No RSVP required.
For more information, please contact the Heinrich Boell Foundation under info@us.boell.org or 202-462-7512, or contact the Goethe-Institut under 202-289-1200 or info@washington.goethe.org.
Even before its opening in September 2001, the Jewish Museum was overwhelmed with its success. With over 8 million visitors from 40 countries, it has become the most visited cultural attraction in Berlin. What the architecture attempts to express externally is also the content of the museum: the broken history of the Jews in Germany, the horrors of the Holocaust, and what can be learned from this.
Libeskind’s extension to Dresden’s Military History Museum dramatically interrupts the building’s symmetry, its massive, five-story wedge of concrete and steel slicing through the center of the 135-year-old original structure. The new façade’s openness and transparency pushes through the opacity and rigidity of the existing building just as German democracy pushed aside the country’s authoritarian past. The museum’s redesign creates the setting for a reconsideration of that past in a city annihilated by allied bombing at the end of WWII. Inside the wedge, a viewing platform provides breathtaking views of the city as it is today, while the wedge itself points towards the area where the firebombing of Dresden began, creating a dramatic space for reflection.
The exhibition “Daniel Libeskind: Architecture for the Angel of History” will present photographs of these and other living expressions of memory designed by Daniel Libeskind.
This exhibition is in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Washington, DC.
No RSVP required.
For more information, please contact the Heinrich Boell Foundation under info@us.boell.org or 202-462-7512, or contact the Goethe-Institut under 202-289-1200 or info@washington.goethe.org.