6 August 2019

The Century of Dance
Exhibition: 25 August – 21 September 2019
Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg

In a joint exhibition, dance archives in Cologne, Leipzig, Bremen and Berlin are showing unique centrepieces from their collections for the first time. Some of the highlights of these original exhibits include Mary Wigman's Hexentanz (Witch Dance) mask; Valeska Gert's folded and retouched portrait photographs; Gret Palucca's admission tickets to the 1936 Olympic Games; Oskar Schlemmer's makeup instructions for his Triadic Ballet; the workbooks and stage direction books of Dore Hoyer and Johann Kresnik; as well as Kurt Jooss' notes to Der Grüne Tisch.

Among the many special objects shown in the exhibition is Isadora Duncan's Der Tanz der Zukunft / The Dance of the Future (1903), an English-German first edition of one of the most important manifestos of modern dance. Jean Weidt's masks provide another example, telling a history of resistance and engagement. They were created by makeup artist Erich Goldstaub, whose fate can be tracked to Auschwitz, where the trail ends.

A lesser-known photograph shows Josephine Baker arriving at Berlin-Tempelhof Central Airport in 1959. The singer and dancer visited Berlin at the invitation of the Federal Foreign Office. In one of her public appearances, Baker gave a speech at an event organised by the Bund der Verfolgten des Naziregimes (Association of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime) at the Berlin Congress Hall in Tiergarten (now the HKW). The subject was “For humanity – against nationalism and racial hatred”.

The starting point of the exhibition installation is built upon 75 objects exemplifying the revolutionary history of stage dance in Germany from the beginning of the 20th century to the 1980s. The related programme What the Body Remembers raises a key question, and these objects provide possible answers: It asks how an art form that is as physical and performance-based as contemporary dance can be preserved and remembered as cultural memory – as the material heritage of our culture.

In the exhibition, these original objects correspond to digitised photographs and film documents that expand upon the context of the objects, primarily through moving images. On a further level, this selection is presented within the international context of modern dance through 100 photographic and film documents, indicating the creativity and impact of developments in dance in Europe, the United States and around the world.

Portraying the history of modern dance based on a selection of photographs and films includes the risk of it having a limited perspective. The past only ever exists as a fragment. And every present constructs its own past. In light of these preconditions, the curatorial team decided to dare to brave the gaps and has opted for a path of subjective dance experience.

A special event series of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin
In cooperation with DIEHL+RITTER and the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation). Funded by the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung/bpb (Federal Agency for Civic Education) and the Institut Français. In collaboration with Tanz im August and Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin. The Campus is supported in the context of the European Year of Cultural Heritage – SHARING HERITAGE.

The complete programme is online: www.adk.de/tanzerbe

Special Event Information
The Century of Dance
Exhibition accompanying What the Body Remembers. Dance Heritage Today
Opening: Saturday, 24 August, 6 pm, free admission
With Nele Hertling, Johannes Odenthal, Madeline Ritter, et al.
7 pm: Reception hosted by the General Representation of the
Government of Flanders
8 pm: Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker: Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich, followed by a talk with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Gabriele Brandstetter, € 28/18
Exhibition: 25 August – 21 September 2019, 3–10 pm daily
Admission € 8/5, free admission for visitors under 19 and on Tuesdays
Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg 10, 10557 Berlin
Tickets: +49 (0)30 20057-2000, info@adk.de, www.adk.de/tickets

Press photos available online: www.adk.de/de/presse
Press tickets: presse@adk.de, Tel. +49 (0)30 20057-1514

Press contact on behalf of the Akademie der Künste: ARTEFAKT Kulturkonzepte, Damaris Schmitz and Stefan Hirtz, Tel. +49 (0)30 440 10 686, mail@artefakt-berlin.de