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19/6/2015

Full House

Kunsthalle Erfurt, Erfurt

Curated by: Silke Opitz

“Full House” at Molsdorf Palace – one summer long, exquisite works by thirteen contemporary artists and designers will be on display in the palace’s magnificent historic rooms. Among these are a swarm of bone china emerging from the chimney at the banqet room, a golden ornament that was once part of a royal table service, pop baroque paintings and a readymade capable of producing either money or debt.

In addition, a video will provide exhibition guests with a vivid account of the building of the palatial private residence. And naturally, ghosts and spirits will still be lurking about in the old chambers … In this one-of-a-kind group show at Molsdorf Palace, fantastical works of contemporary art hark back to the eventful history of the setting and its erstwhile owner, Count Gustav Adolph von Gotter. His acquisition and loss of Molsdorf Palace recall Grimms’ fairy tale of the fisherman and his wife – only in Gotter’s case, it was the story of a profligate gentleman. People’s desire for property and prestige is of course always an ephemeral phenomenon. Everything – including this wondrous exhibition – is only a fleeting specter … So it is all the more important to savor it!

The summer exhibition FULL HOUSE at Molsdorf Palace is like the season in which it takes place: easy, light-hearted, exhilarating, and evanescent. For the first time, the historic palace rooms will play host for several months to contemporary art and design, with exhibits occupying the entire museum section of the Corps de Logis—a true FULL HOUSE.

The show can be considered site-specific to the extent that the artwork has been selected with careful consideration for the history and features of the Late Baroque Molsdorf Palace and the life and times of its former (but not only) owner Gustav Adolph von Gotter (1692 Gotha –1762 Berlin). However, FULL HOUSE is not meant to be seen as an illustrative historical exhibition, nor should the contemporary works of art be viewed in an overly narrow framework. Quite the contrary: the works by the thirteen international artists and designers may be seen as modern commentaries on Gotter’s life in particular and more generally on human aspiration and its transience. With two exceptions, these works were however not created expressly for the exhibition and accordingly are conceivable independently of this context. FULL HOUSE does not constitute an artistic invasion or intervention, not least of all for reasons of monument preservation. These contemporary artworks can instead be regarded as observations on important aspects of courtly life and the culture of ostentatious display, in which architecture, banquets and celebrations, science and the arts, freemasonry and—with an explicit reference to the title of the exhibition—gambling and parlor games all play a part. Interesting and exciting conclusions may be drawn here, without stooping to a contemporization of the past or a conscious fostering of “histourism.”

Image: Olga Chernysheva, Seven Exercises, 2004, Video, 6’50 min
Courtesy DIEHL Berlin, Foxy Production New York und die Künstlerin Ausstellungsansicht Schloss Molsdorf, Bibliothek © Thomas Müller, Stiftung Thüringer Schlösser und Gärten / Stadt ErfurtI

Press Contact:
Viktoria Gueldner T +49 (0) 361 6551654 viktoria.gueldner@erfurt.de

Schlossmuseum Molsdorf
Schlossplatz 6 D – 99094 Erfurt
Hours: Tuesday–Sunday and public holidays 10–18h

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