Mit Beethoven unter einem D-A-CH.

Vernissage at 11:00 am

Artists:
P. Aerschmann, CH; M. Baselgia, CH; Th. Kneubühler, CH; M. Lang, A; K. A. Loidl, A; P. Siering, D; A. Walther, D; K. Wanker, A; U. Wöllmann, D

Curators: Dr. U. Miksche, C. Genschow, M. Horling (Bonn)

24.01.2020, at 7 pm concert „250 Piano Pieces for Beethoven“, S. Kessel, Pianist; 
Texts by Beethoven, R. Mautz, Reciter;
30.01.2020, at 7 pm, an evening about Austria and Switzerland, in cooperation with Colloquium Humanum

The title of exhibition “Mit Beethoven unter einem D-A-CH” (Under a roof with Beethoven)  is a play on words; the acronym D-A-CH stands for the German-speaking countries of Germany (D), Austria (A) and Switzerland (CH), and means “roof” in German. It will feature 10 artists from the three countries presenting paintings, installations, photographs, videos, etc. The exhibition of part of the “Beethoven as a Nature Lover” theme of the Beethoven Anniversary Year and follows the “Allegro – Neues Wagen” (Allegro – Dare to do something new) motto of the first quarter.

Beethoven was born in Bonn and spent his early years as a musician in the city.

In Vienna, he developed into the musical genius he is today known as throughout the world. The 6th Symphony (“Pastoral”), in which Beethoven’s love for nature receives its impressive testimony, and the 9th Symphony, also contributed to this. In the case of the latter, the innovative power of the first movement, in particular, represented a daring undertaking, making it a key work of symphony music and challenge for future generations of musicians.

Beethoven admired Switzerland, already a republic at the time, because of its bourgeois liberalism and magnificent nature. His Zurich-based publisher Hans Georg Nägeli, who printed, among others, Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas No. 16 and No. 21 (Waldstein), praised Beethoven’s musical audacity as a “swift and infallible development of art”. He also described him as “an important inventor of art” and “the new century’s hero of the arts in the spirit of the Bachs”.

The “Mit Beethoven unter einem D-A-CH” exhibition dares to establish a tangible connection between Beethoven’s romantic understanding of nature and the understanding of nature of contemporary artists, using a contemporary Beethoven installation (C. Genschow) and incorporating the “Pastoral” as an integral musical element. The exhibiting artists present pieces that convey their individual understanding of nature in the form of diverse, creative and imaginative expressions. The individual aesthetic treatment of the subject by the artists, using the artistic means of today, visualises the current concept of nature and invites the audience to reflect on the artistic strategies of the past and present.

The cultural supporting programme will feature Bonn Pianist Susanne Kessel playing excerpts from her music project “250 Piano Pieces for Beethoven”. She will be accompanied by Rolf Mautz, who will recite texts by Beethoven to accompany the piano pieces. The cooperation partner, Colloquium Humanum, will be organizing a further evening on Austria and Switzerland, to which it will invite renowned representatives from both countries.