Deutsches Historisches Museum - Verf�hrung Freiheit. Kunst in Europa seit 1945 - Blog

Greece is one of the European countries hit the hardest by the ongoing economic crisis. With co-curator Maro Psyrra we talked about the consequences of the crisis for the exhibition, the staff and the museum. On a lighter note we also chatted about her PhD, her favorite artists and one of her favorite pieces: an installation by Leda Papaconstantinou called ‘Genet’s Toaster’.  

More often than not, when people become really enthusiastic about something and they make it their passion and pursue this passion professionally, they can remember one moment in which all of that became clear to them.

For Alexios this moment was when he encountered Marcel Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ on the cover of a book. He was twelve or thirteen at the moment and remembers that that was the moment in which he decided he wanted to be in the arts professionally. As a professional viewer. For him ‘it was a funny coincidence that Duchamp’s last work was Étant donnés: 1 la chute d'eau / 2 le gaz d'éclairage’ - a work on viewing and voyeurism. 

Henry Meyric Huges lives in London. The first contact with him is always with E-mail and it is soon clear that he answers his E-mail more quickly than anyone else on the Desire for Freedom team. And he writes wonderful E-mails at that. The team members who have not had a chance to meet him personally are enthralled about his British courtesy and understatement. We met him for the first time shortly before the exhibition opening. It reinforced our digital impression and that despite his quite impressive biography (understatement): Director of the Hayward Gallery in London, founding member and President of Manifesta, President of the International Art Critics Association AICA, and recipient of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. And he speaks fluent German.