EXHIBITIONS

Romantic – the Exhibition of German Contemporary Art

October 14th, 2011~~ November 14th, 2011

German Romanticism and its influence on us today

Back in the 19th century, Germany underwent great industrial, political and social changes. It was transforming from a basically agricultural society to a modern industrialized state. Such a change is always accompanied with many problems and also positive impacts that are reflected in the cultural scene, i.e. in the fine arts, music and literature. The ideas and thoughts that were discussed in those days have remained a current issue until today:

The growth of the big cities for instance. It is not only awesome, but sometimes frightening, so many of the German Romantics began rediscovering the value of nature, the value of simple things such as childhood and its innocence, the value of being able to feel and behave like a human being and not like a machine. Also people were rethinking who they are as a nation and they were rediscovering the preciousness of having a common national language with a long tradition and history which incorporated also the transmittance of real values. Fairy tales that used to be formally only passed on by word of mouth from generation to generation were now written down. Preserving national goods and its values became a value itself as opposed to destruction and extinguishing the roots of a nation. Emotion, passion, the longing for secrets, the enjoyment of the inexplicable and the appreciation of a person´s individuality as opposed to clear rational and unemotional, mere profit oriented thinking were further characteristics of the German Romantics.

Until today, the oppositions and dualisms that arose due to the speedy growth of industrialized nations are still an issue. Artists from Europe, i.e. Austria, Switzerland and Germany, give proof of this still up to date topic and hope to share their thoughts with the international audience of this exhibition.