When Different Worlds Meet:
Blind Date
presents the new acquisitions of the Deutsche Bank Collection in the
historical ambiance of Seligenstadt
In
the show case: Ellen Gallaghers series "DeLuxe"
Unusual
encounters and connections – the exhibition "Blind
Date" combines the latest new acquisitions for the Deutsche Bank
Collection with highlights that have already long been part of the largest
corporate collection worldwide. Before the historical backdrop of
Seligenstadt, Wilhelm
Sasnal is confronted with Raymond
Pettibon, Rosemarie
Trockel with Joseph
Beuys. Oliver Koerner von Gustorf on surprising juxtapositions
and fascinating dialogues in the first part of a new exhibition series by
Deutsche Bank Art.
Rooms
of the prelacy befor the exhibition
The
former Benedictine
cloister in Seligenstadt, once a cultural and spiritual center, bears
the traces of two very different kinds of energy: the spirit of work and
common prayer and an undeniable weakness for worldly splendor. In 828, Einhard,
scholar and biographer of Charlemagne,
commissioned the basilica that he was buried in, built from the stones of
a Roman citadel and one of the largest church structures with a Carolinian
core north of the Alps. In 1699, the abbot of the time extended the
tranquil Benedictine
abbey that bred pigeons and bees, adding a prelacy that was Baroque
in spirit – a magnificent building in a grand style with separate living
and market areas as well as cellars.
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Dr. Ariane Grigoteit, Direktor of
Deutsche Bank Art, at the press conference on the occasion of the
opening of Blind Date Seligenstadt
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Today, visitors to the building and its atmospheric garden
are invited to imagine life in the cloister. After seven years of
renovation, the prelacy can now be visited again for the first time in
over 200 years, during which time it was only accessible to a select
group. The spring of 2006, however, marks a unique state of transition;
before its transformation into a historical museum, the elaborately
restored rooms are still almost completely unfurnished.
Opening
Blind Date Seligenstadt
The contrast
between the simplicity and clarity of the empty rooms and the ornamental
Baroque paintings and illusionist murals on the walls and ceilings seems
predestined for one of the most unusual exhibitions the Deutsche
Bank Collection has ever presented.
Dinner
in the former refectory on the occasion of the
opening
of Blind Date Seligenstadt
Dr. Ariane
Grigoteit, director of Deutsche
Bank Art , deliberately selected a location far removed from ordinary
art venues. While Blind Date departs from the paths of conventional
curatorship to risk an experiment in which contemporary art, historical
architecture, and the history of a city and a collection meet and overlap,
the exhibition also features two premiers. While the occasion marks the
first time the prelacy of the Seligenstadt Cloister is opening its doors
to the public, the Deutsche Bank Collection is showing its latest new
acquisitions for the first time in its 27-year history.
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View into one of the magnificent
halls on the upper floor of the prelacy
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Just as the location doesn’t reveal its secrets if one
doesn’t pursue them, the connections within the collection unfold in a
process of association. "We wanted to find a framework that underscores
the multiple references of the new acquisitions to the older works in the
collection", Ariane Grigoteit explains. "And we succeeded in doing this
with Blind Date. The exhibition provides a peek behind the scenes,
so to speak; it shows how the new works carry the collection forward. This
new exhibition series will be supported each year by a series of
international curators." For the first show of the series, the young
London curator Jessica
Morgan was asked to juxtapose the latest acquisitions with a selection
of works already part of the Deutsche Bank Collection. The result is over
40 pairings of artists and works – encounters between generations,
movements, concepts, and styles arranged in very different ways.
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