The Promised Land

an exhibition by Galerie Neue Meister
20 June 2010 to 31 January 2012

With this first special exhibition in the new Albertinum, the Galerie Neue Meister wishes to thank those artists who donated their works for an art auction in support of the Albertinum following the flood in 2002.* At the same time, this thematic exhibition which is on show from 20 June 2010 until 29 May 2011 presents works by additional contemporary artists. The exhibition is full of references and allusions, extending from the Promised Land of the Bible to the “blühende Landschaften” (‘green pastures’) which it was promised would flourish in Germany’s eastern federal states after 1990. Art is always a promise. The exhibition demonstrates the close proximity of promises and desires, on the one hand, and doubt and disappointment on the other.

In the first room, seven works of art constitute a prologue to the theme. Sophia Schama, a graduate from the Dresden Kunsthochschule, has provided the painting that is the source of the title: an industrial building overgrown with foliage. This is followed by Thomas Struth’s “Paradise 09”, Neo Rauch’s “Sammler” (Collectors), Sigmar Polke’s “Weißer Raum” (White Space) and works by Candida Höfer, Beate Gütschow and Marcel Broodthaers.

The adjacent special exhibition hall, with a floor area of nearly 1200 square metres, constitutes a new exhibition space in the Albertinum and is an important location for the presentation of national and international works of contemporary art. Painting, photography, object pictures and video art by such artists as Gotthard Graubner, Piero Dorazio, Richard Paul Lohse, David Claerbout, Peter Piller, John Baldessari, Eberhard Havekost, Ronald de Bloeme, Martin Kippenberger, Rosemarie Trockel and Katharina Sieverdings will be on display. They will launch the Albertinum into its new role as a museum of modernity and as a bright beacon among German museums.

This exhibition has been made possible through the provision of high quality works of art on loan from individual private collectors, business enterprises and galleries, but above all through the dedicated commitment of the Society for Modern Art in Dresden and the Rheingold Collection.

* The art treasures of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden were endangered by the flooding of the River Elbe in 2002 and several buildings were badly affected. For a charity auction entitled “Künstler helfen Alten und neuen Meistern” (Artists Help Old and Modern Masters), numerous artists donated their own works. The auction held in the new Nationalgalerie on 30 November 2002 raised 3.4 million Euro. This formed the basis for implementing the new concept for the Albertinum with flood-proof storage facilities.