DRESDEN.- The Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, in cooperation with the Metropolitan Chapter of St Vitus in Prague and the Archbishopric of Prague, is presenting the exhibition “Fragments of Memory. The Treasury of St Vitus Cathedral in Prague in Dialogue with Edmund de Waal, Josef Koudelka and Julian Rosefeldt”, which is on display at the Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbau until 8 September 2024. The exhibition is divided into five sections, each delving into themes such as religion, remembrance, and memory.
At the heart of the exhibition are the treasures of Prague’s St Vitus Cathedral, a revered collection of relics of faith considered both sacred and very precious. This collection has grown over the centuries, evolving into one of the most significant of its kind. Notably, this marks the first time these treasures will be showcased outside their historical setting.
The exhibition in Dresden features 125 distinctive medieval and early modern reliquaries, which combine three types of relics: relics that date back to the beginnings of Christianity; relics of Christian saints who told of divine revelation, lived according to that revelation and often died for it; and finally relics of the patron saints of Bohemia, who played a central role in the Christianisation of Central Europe and thereby also played an important role for the Bohemian rulers. Some of these objects were also used as integral elements in the coronation ceremonies of Bohemian kings. The exhibition is complemented by the presentation of exhibits in the Grünes Gewölbe which, by their date of origin or function, are closely linked to the Prague Cathedral Treasury. Eleven selected works of art, together with the contemporary installation by Olaf Nicolai, complement the exhibition in the Lipsiusbau.
This is accompanied by three contemporary artists whose different approaches open up additional perspectives on the subject.
The ceramic work of the artist Edmund de Waal (*1964) creates spaces for meditation and reflection. He sees his objects as attestations of stories: In “Irrkunst”, he refers to the German thinker Walter Benjamin, his flâneur’s wanderings and his interest in the countless little things that make up this world. The work “i.m. (in memorian)” reveals the life of Moïse de Camondo, a Jewish art collector and banker. De Waal made his family’s intricate network of relationships and those of de Camondo the subject of his recently published book “Lettres à Camondo”. This is underlined by the story of a Meissen porcelain service belonging to the von Klemperer family, a Jewish family that had to flee Dresden in 1938. The porcelain service was confiscated and severely damaged during the bombing of the city. Edmund de Waal acquired it at auction many years later and had it reassembled.
In stark contrast to this are the large-format photographs by Josef Koudelka (*1938). They show landscapes fragmented by the construction of the wall between Israel and the Palestinian West Bank - the region in which the three great monotheistic world religions have their roots and sacred sites. On the initiative of the Jüdisches Museum Berlin (Jewish Museum Berlin), and as a participant in the “This Place” project, Koudelka travelled to Israel and the West Bank eight times between 2008 and 2012 with the aim of creating a visual record of the complex situation there, turning him into an attentive and critical observer of what has happened and is happening in this historically so significant location.
The film “In the Land of Drought” by Julian Rosefeldt (*1964) uses abandoned film sets to evoke memories of biblical prehistory and the development of humanity, especially in the Middle East and North Africa. The film also looks at the traces of Central Europe’s industrial past, capturing current concerns about cultural destruction, environmental damage and climate change.
This ensemble is completed by a library which is open to the public, a place where traces of the memory of human civilisation are preserved and processed - even if they remain fragmentary. The core of the books on display is made up of the surviving scholarly library of the great medieval historian and long-time director of the Bamberg State Archives Franz Machilek (1934-2021).
Marion Ackermann, Director General of the SKD: “The Kunsthalle in the Lipsiusbau is a place of remembrance and repository of knowledge. In the interior, the historic fabric of the building remains visible and merges with the modern fixtures and fittings. The different eras can be savoured visually, just like the objects in the exhibition. This creates a dialogue between the veneration of the saints of the Middle Ages and early modern times and the contemporary works of Edmund de Waal, Josef Koudelka and Julian Rosefeldt, without the works losing their own individual aura. The museum becomes a place of remembrance, internally as well as externally.”
Barbara Klepsch, Saxon State Minister for Culture and Tourism: “The ‘Fragments of Memory’ exhibition is undoubtedly one of a series of outstanding special exhibitions and major premières that await us at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen this year. For the first time ever, the relics of Prague’s St Vitus Cathedral will be on display outside of Prague. The fact that the show will be opened by Saxon’s Minister-President in the presence of his Czech counterpart is proof of the extraordinary importance of this presentation and the good partnership between the Free State of Saxony and the Czech Republic. I would like to thank the Metropolitan Chapter of St Vitus in Prague and the Archbishopric of Prague for their trust in placing this important collection in the hands of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen. I am optimistic that, thanks in particular to the interesting combination created by including the works of three contemporary artists on faith and cultures, the special exhibition will develop into a major attraction for visitors.”
Complementing the exhibition there is a scholarly, richly illustrated publication entitled “Fragments of Memory” with articles on current research into the objects on display from the Prague Cathedral Treasury and texts by contemporary artists in German and English.
Visitors can also look forward to an extensive programme of themed tours, lectures and gallery talks throughout the duration of the exhibition, organised in collaboration with the Katholischen Akademie des Bistums Dresden-Meißen (Catholic Academy of the Diocese of Dresden-Meissen).
