Marek Bieńczyk with Rajmund Kanelba's "Sleeping Family", photo c/o National Museum in Wrocław
Ganymed goes Europe opens up new perspectives on old masters' works in the National Museum in Wrocław. The Austrian theatre group wenn es soweit ist invites Polish and international authors to compose a literary text on a inspirational masterpiece from the museum’s collection
Jacqueline Kornmüller and Peter Wolf from wenn es soweit ist stage these texts with eight actors, embodying the written reflection on the paintings and thereby bringing them to life. As visitors walk through the museum, they become part of the theatrical setting and decide how long they stay by a particular stage. For seven evenings, the pieces are performed simultaneously and repeatedly.
Ganymed goes Europe is a production of the wenn es soweit ist group from Austria in co-operation with the National Museum in Wrocław, the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. It takes a fresh new look at the art of the old European masters, whose works are abundant in the collections of the three Central European museums. Its formula is simple yet innovative. For their Polish edition, the organisers invite 7 writers of different generations, from Poland and abroad, to compose works inspired by the collection of the National Museum in Wrocław. Polish writer Mariusz Wilk will tackle the painting by the Master of the Dormition of Mary from Košatki, and the young Agnieszka Drotkiewicz writes about two paintings by Johann Gleggler, Allegory of Taste and Allegory of Touch. Marek Bieńczyk composes a piece to the Sleeping Family painting by Raimund Kanelba, and Małgorzata Sikorska-Miszczuk takes up the Tryptych of Holy Virgins.
Mariusz Wilk with the “Throne of Grace” from the Master of Mary’s Dormition in Košatki’s Workshop, before 1350 (part of the Gallery of Silesian Art 14th-16th c.), courtesy of The National Museum in Wrocław
The Wrocław edition also invites prominent figures in Austrian literature. Nobel prize laureate Efriede Jelinek writes a play inspired by the portrait of Infanta Margarita Teresa by Diego Velázquez, made available for the occasion by the Viennese Kunsthistorisches Museum. Martin Pollack takes up Study of Clouds by Friedrich Phillip Reinhold, and the young Thomas Glavinic considers Eve by Lucas Cranach.
Later in the year, the wenn es soweit ist theatre conduct their interdiscplinary initiative in Budapest (September to November) and in Vienna from March to June 2014.
The first edition of Ganymed goes Europe was organised in 2010 at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. It is founded on the idea of a contemporary formula of work that brings together three genres: painting, literature and theatre.
Wrocław performance dates:
24th of May 2013, 7.30 pm (premiere showing)
31st of May 2013, 7.30 pm through to 10 pm
7th of June 2013, 7.30 pm through to 10 pm
14th of June 2013, 7.30 pm through to 10 pm
21st of June 2013, 7.30 pm through to 10 pm
28th of June 2013, 7.30 pm through to 10 pm
5th of July 2013, 7.30 pm through to 10 pm
National Museum in Wrocław
(Muzeum Narodowe we Wrocławiu)
pl. Powstańców Warszawy 5
50-153 Wrocław
Editor: Paulina Schlosser, 24.04.2013
Source: http://www.mnwr.art.pl/, www.ganymedgoeseurope.com, Instytut Książki