Are Stettin and Szczecin one and the same city? Or, which could be a more proper question, if we are thinking of the history of Stettin and the history of Szczecin, do we actually mean the fates of one or two cities?
Both parts of this question can be answered positively: yes, it is one city, as the memory of its past is less and less dividing the historians of Stettin-Szczecin; and: yes, they are two separate cities, as the same historians agree about pointing out an obvious point of discontinuity between them. And this applies to researchers of Stettin-Szczecin history as much as of art. Furthermore, if you look at the review of the collection of The National Museum in Szczecin presented here not with the eye of an expert, but of an art lover, you may easily point out these discontinuities – gaps, empty places and provocative, uncomfortable questions. For example: if nowadays we freely agree, recognize and celebrate the fact that the city used to be German, why are there so few German objecs here?
Although inconvenient, such questions probably should not be kept silence about, avoided or – all the more – outshouted. It is better to put them up loud, because maybe they are the essence of the collection, they focus attention on cracks through which the full history of the museum and the city can be seen: not easy, complicated, full of gaps and related experiences of both artists and people who have been contributing to the history of the institution, as well as other residents. This meant that the essence of the exhibition was the desire to capture what is often invisible for it does not show a coherent version of the great narrative about the city. That is why we decided to introduce the fate of both the German and Polish cities and museums, as well as of related art. One should look at the collection bearing in mind the intricacies of the city's history. Therefore, the exhibition creators' basic goal was the need to build a story about one Stettin / Szczecin - the pre- and post-war one, one that combines the Polish and the German history of the city into one whole, yet composed of countless experiences. A selection of German and Polish works from the 19th and 20th centuries was used for this purpose. It is a good representation of the Szczecin collection, as it covers those circumstances that best reflect the key meanders of the city's, and thus the museum's, history. The exhibition is an image of a road leading to consent to thinking about Szczecin as a Polish city with a German past (and present).
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LÆNGSEL – Værker fra Nationalmuseet i Szczecin
Stettin/Szczecin – One History. Art of the 19th and 20th Centuries from the Collection of The National Museum in Szczecin
Bornholms Kunstmuseum
Otto Bruuns Plads 1, Gudhjem, Denmark (the Bornholm island)
Exhibition concept: Beata Małgorzata Wolska
Curators: Beata Małgorzata Wolska, Tine Nygaard
Partner: Dansk Kulturinstitut / Danish Cultural Institute
LÆNGSEL - VÆRKER FRA NATIONALMUSEET I SZCZECIN
Det nuværende Polen har haft en meget omskiftelig historie. I lange perioder har dele af landet været under andre magters herredømme.
Først med afslutningen af Første Verdenskrig får Polen sin nuværende udstrækning. Eller næsten. Nogle af landets vestligste dele, herunder havnebyen Szczecin, forbliver på tyske hænder indtil 1945.
I udstillingen LÆNGSEL – Værker fra Nationalmuseet i Szczecin møder du værker, der er skabt under indtryk af landets komplekse historie i de vigtige år omkring Første Verdenskrig og op til og med Anden Verdenskrig.
Kunstnerne reagerer på voldsomme, nationale forandringer og vilde, internationale strømninger med kamp, dekadence, optimisme og resignation.
I malerier og skulpturer undersøger de forskellige former for patriotisme. Fælles for deres udtryk er en LÆNGSEL efter at få det tabte Polen tilbage.
Den ledsages af en forskningsbaseret publikation og på udvalgte dage vil der være baggrundsmusik, skabt af tyske eller polske komponister, i udstillingsrummene.
Udstillingen er den tredje i et samarbejde mellem Nationalmuseet i Szczecin og Bornholms Kunstmuseum.