Angel Dust

Angel Dust
Bogomir Ecker, Mark Wallinger, Unknown Master
February 20, 2009 – April 13, 2009

MMK ZOLLAMT

Domstr. 10
D – 60311 Frankfurt

www.mmk-frankfurt.de

How do we know when the time has come to do the one and let the other be? Whom or what do we listen to when it comes to taking decisions? What voices insist that we listen to them? Which seek to influence us? What language does the Angel of Annunciation speak? And in what guise does he appear to us? Why do we not hear those calling in the desert and why does the sermon of someone like Zarathustra fall on deaf ears? Many are the calls. And: “He who has ears, let him hear!” (Matthew, 13,9)

So much is announced to us, day-in, day-out. But what really gets through to us, what do we hear when we listen and what of what we hear do we understand? What fruit does the spirit plant in our ear such that it grows and blossoms? How can we recognize that the right time has come to step back for a moment and listen to it?

A late-medieval painting, a video by Mark Wallinger and a sculpture by Bogomir Ecker – three works by quite different artists, inspired by different sources and different questions.

The three artists, three works and three media are not intended to present some pre-defined hypothesis. Instead the focus is on creating a sphere in which different types of speaking and announcing, of hearing and understanding enter into dialog. A key role here is played by perception: seeing, hearkening, hearing, whispering. Yet intimation, doubt, assumption, irritation and recognition also have a role to play here. Is all of this the starting point for our inspiration? And is it above all art that enables this form of sensory experience?

Accompanying lectures in german language:

Mark Wallinger and Religion
Lecture Hall, MMK, February 26, 7 p.m.

Mark Wallinger is considered one of the few contemporary artists in the West who openly discusses questions of faith in his work. In her lecture, Madeleine Schuppli, Director of Aargauer Kunsthaus, will focus on the themes in Wallinger’s oeuvre that are related to faith and religion and will analyze his artistic strategy in dealing with religious motifs.

Virgin
Discussion with author Thomas Meinecke
Haus am Dom, March 19, 7.30 – 9:30 p.m.

The mysticism of Early Modern times, erotically charged with the “love of God”, major 20th century theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar and his “medium”, Adrienne von Speyr, a German jazz pianist who disappeared in New York in the 1950s – author and DJ Thomas Meinecke takes all these themes, each of which is exciting in its own right, and interweaves them in an inimitable and compelling manner.

Introduction to Angelology (the study of angels)
Haus am Dom, April 2, 7.30 – 9.50 p.m.

Dr. Johann Ev. Hafner, Professor of Religious Studies, University of Potsdam
As part of the Angel Dust exhibition, the question that will inevitably be asked is what angels are, assuming they exist, and how one can converse with them, what one would then talk about, where they come from, where they are going, and why we need them. A Catholic religious scholar, author of a brand-new angelology, provides the expert answers.