Opening “The Presence of Absence“
11.10.2024, 18:30
Warm invitation for you and your friends to the opening at Frankfurter Kunstverein on Friday, 11 October 2024, at 6.30 p.m.
Speaking at the opening:
Karin Wolff (Director Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain)
Massimo Darchini (Consul General to Italy in Frankfurt and patron of the exhibition)
Prof. Dr. Andreas Mulch (Director Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt)
Prof. Franziska Nori (Director Frankfurter Kunstverein)
Evening programme: Staging of the work Shrink by Lawrence Malstaf
What may sound like a contradiction is at the heart of the exhibition The Presence of Absence. Breathtaking artworks and scientific exhibits at the Frankfurter Kunstverein invite visitors to experience a sense of awe and deep emotion. The casts of victims from Pompeii, who lost their lives nearly 2,000 years ago and whose figures were preserved as moulds by volcanic material—what do they reveal to the viewer? The fossilised footprints of prehistoric humans, left 3.6 million years ago—what do they tell us about the existence of these people? The monumental, sacred brass images of animal imprints by the young artist Toni R. Toivonen—why do they move us so deeply?
The various traces that capture the past in physical matter open up our thoughts about our existence in the world and in time. In fleeting moments, we connect with eternity and give moments of existence a material form. Art is a way to resonate with these moments through intuitive understanding.
In co-operation with the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research and the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the Goethe University Frankfurt
With works by the artists Heidi Bucher, Lawrence Malstaf, Marshmallow Laser Feast, Petra Noordkamp, Claudio Parmiggiani, Toni R. Toivonen and with exhibits from the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, the Florentine Museum and Institute of Prehistory ‘Paolo Graziosi’, the Natural History Museum Vienna, the LWL-Museum of Natural History in Münster, Associazione Gibellina Parco Culturale and with Prof Dr Luciano Rezzolla, Institute for Theoretical Physics at the Goethe University Frankfurt
The event is public and free of charge. We are looking forward to seeing you!