THE NIGHT OF THE MUSEUMS | Guided Tour of the Exhibition “The Estate”
Night-time curatorial guided tour of the exhibition “The Estate” by Agnieszka Tarasiuk
The last chance to experience the exhibition on a guided tour. The show runs only until 17th May
The stone carvers of Carrara call a piece of rock that lost its crystalline structure “cotto” – “cooked.” This name applies quite literally to the sculptures from Dylewo. Burnt and calcified marble is turning to dust. Objects in the state of decay are not a common sight at museums, as they stand in contrast to the 19th century perspective, still valid in today’s art institutions, that valorises monumental narratives on art, based on grand works. Exceptions are possible in the case of educational and commemorative initiatives. A show that stands as an iconic example was “Warsaw Accuses!” organised in the spring of 1945 by Warsaw Reconstruction Office alongside the National Museum under the supervision of the charismatic museum director Prof. Stanisław Lorentz. “Warsaw Accuses!” showcased the proofs of losses that Polish culture suffered during the war, the devastated and plundered collections of the Museum in Warsaw, as well as photographs that revealed the massive scale of destruction in the capital city, made by Zofia Chomętowska, among other photographers. Having inaugurated in Warsaw, the photographic section of the show travelled to Tokyo, Moscow, London, Paris, New York City, Budapest, Prague and Berlin. The published exhibition guide states the goals of the show quite explicitly:
Our task is to give the experience an objective dimension, to show the sense of the catastrophe through the chaos of ruins, to reveal the enemy’s intentions. (...) German culture is guilty of an unprecedented crime, the entire German nation has to suffer harsh punishment. Punishment brings only moral satisfaction, and that is not enough. There must be compensation. (...) We must be compensated with museum treasures that have proved to be morally arid on the German soil. Not only the treasures that were taken away from Poland now or before, there are not enough of them, but also the treasures of universal culture.
Regardless of the obvious disproportion of scale, significance and meaning between the modest show “The Estate” and the grand historical undertaking “Warsaw Accuses!”, juxtaposing these two initiatives sheds light on the differences in the historical circumstances of the two exhibitions. Today, it is hard to read through the harsh lofty language and explicit compensation claims, quite obvious in 1945. We refrain from ideological and revisionist perspectives on history, even there are episodes that still hurt and stir righteous anger. The exhibition showcases rubble to highlight the fragility of all political orders and the ambivalence of ever-changing ideologies. In the political perspective described by Jan Sowa, the destroyed sculptures bear witness to European history. In the art historical narrative, these works are devastated yet still recognisable: bronze copies of antique statues and works by Adolfo Wildt (1868–1931), an outstanding representative of Italian Modernism. Display of destroyed works raises the question of the topicality of classic culture in the Postmodern era. However, in essence, the sculptures are still pieces of metamorphic rock and, as minerals, they function according to the geological time scale that spans hundreds of millions of years. Acknowledging this natural scale helps us detach ourselves from our own histories.
Video footage of the exhibition available here
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