24.04.2009 to 20.09.2009
The Swiss artist Mathias Balzer has long since become known far beyond the boundaries of Switzerland and has created a rich body of graphic work that can be viewed in the tradition of classical European modernism and which, through a series of complex pictures, repeatedly takes as its subject the origin of people and the objects that surround them.
Based on the idea of an 'archaeology of things', Balzer has fervently explored what has, for many years, been his own place of work as an artist - the Haldenstein castle near Chur. And it is precisely this motif which provides an exciting setting to the works on display in the Museum of Decorative Arts in the Köpenick Palace, in that they are to be shown alongside the wood panelling by the Master HS from 1548, which not only counts as one of the foremost examples of Renaissance-era decorative art from north of the Alps, but which itself also originates from Haldenstein castle. In the process, a further, museological aspect can be added to Balzer's artistic endeavour to investigate Haldenstein's past.
The exhibition, which is taking place as part of the Köpenick centinery: 'Eine Stadt in Berlin wird 800' ('A town in Berlin turns 800'), is a joint project between the Museum of Decorative Art in Köpenick Palace, the Amt für Kultur for the Canton of Graubünden (CH) and the cultural office of the boroughs of Treptow-Köpenick in Berlin.
Organizer
