Exhibitions 2020

EXHIBITIONS 2020

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS AZTECS October 15, 2020 - April 13, 2021

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS JAPAN IN THE MEIJI ERA The collection Heinrich von Siebold Extended until August 11, 2020

THE MAJLIS Cultures in Dialogue Extended until August 11, 2020

FACES IN PRAYER Photography by Katharina Heigl Extended until September 6, 2020

METAMORPHOSIS. BRAZIL 1998 Photography by Andrea Altemüller Extended until September 6, 2020

A COLONIAL THING Extended until September 6, 2020 AZTECS October 15, 2020 - April 13, 2021

In 2020, the Weltmuseum Wien will present an exhibition on the legendary art and culture of the Aztecs (ca. 1430 - 1521 AD). This highlight exhibition focuses on tributes and sacrifices that played an important role in the Aztecs' religious and economic life. Particular attention is also paid to the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán, which served as a hub as well as the religious and cultural centre of the empire.

The special exhibition Aztecs was conceived by the Linden-Museum Stuttgart in cooperation with the Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen in the Netherlands. It took place at Stuttgart in 2019 for the 500th anniversary of the conquistador Hernán Cortés' landing off the coast of Mexico.

The Aztecs dominated a large part of Mesoamerica at the time of the Spanish conquest in the early 16th century. As a nomadic people, the Aztecs finally settled on several small islands in Lake Texcoco, where they founded the city of Tenochtitlán, present-day Mexico City, in 1325.

In the 15th century, they created an empire surpassed in the Americas only by the Incas in Peru. The Aztecs are among the most well-documented of all Indian civilizations in the 16th century. Visitors retrace Cortés footsteps: starting with the periphery of the Aztec empire and the cultural diversity of Mexico, the exhibition leads to the sacred precinct of the capital Tenochtitlán. The exhibition features more than 200 objects and items on loan from Mexican and European museums, including the Museo del Templo Mayor and the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City.

The world-famous feather headdress exhibited in the permanent exhibition will - among other objects from the Weltmuseum Wien collection - supplement the special exhibition Aztecs. As part of a collaboration between Mexico and Austria, the last existing Aztec feather headdress has now been comprehensively cleaned and conserved. Thanks to this measure, the iridescent splendour of the feathers' green and blue tones and over 1500 gold leaves once again come into their own.

JAPAN IN THE MEIJI ERA The collection Heinrich von Siebold Extended until August 11, 2020

Heinrich von Siebold (1852-1908), son of the doctor and famous researcher on Japan Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796-1866), came to Japan as a teenager and spent most of his life there. He was hired as an interpreter at the newly founded Austro-Hungarian embassy in Tōkyō. This was during the transition from the Shogunate to the Meiji period (1868–1912) and a new policy of opening up the country. During the Meiji Restoration, Japan's formerly military-oriented society changed from a feudal state to a modern superpower, with the Tennō as the head of the state. The social upheaval meant that many of the cult and everyday objects of the previous Shogun period were no longer needed and thus passed into the possession of collectors like Heinrich von Siebold. He wanted to sell his extensive collection, but in the end left it to Emperor Franz Joseph for the k. u. k. Natural History Museum in 1888. There, the collection was inventoried in the anthropology and ethnography department. Heinrich von Siebold received a title of nobility for the donation. The exhibition follows the collection's journey to the Weltmuseum Wien.

It will present the results of a joint research project with the National Museum of Japanese History. The exhibition is based on three historical photographs from the 19th century, which show how the collection was set-up at the family's private residence. A film shows how this set-up was reconstructed using the object mapping technique and thus gives an impression of the original installation. At the same time, the objects will be displayed in five exhibition rooms and presented with a current assessment of the historical value of a Meiji-era collection.

A catalogue and an accompanying book in German and Japanese will be published for the exhibition.

THE MAJLIS Cultures in Dialogue Extended until August 11, 2020

The international travelling exhibition The Majlis - Cultures in Dialogue of the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al- Thani Museum in Doha, Qatar will be on show at the Weltmuseum Wien after its stops in Valletta and Paris. The Majlis has shaped the Arabic and Islamic people for centuries, serving as a centre for social encounters, for political debates and decisions, and for teaching and discussion. Technically defined as a ‘sitting place’, the Majlis has in fact always been much more. It has been an integral part of Arabic society, the heart and soul of communities, the setting for passionate discussions and joyous celebrations. The Majlis — Cultures in Dialogue offers a platform for discussions about relevant cultural issues, fostering the creation of original perspectives through collective thinking. It aims to initiate meaningful connections between people and cultures by stimulating an enriched dialogue. At the heart of the exhibition, both physically and conceptually, is the Majlis, the space of hospitality and dialogue present in every home in the Arabian Peninsula. For hundreds of years, families have used the Majlis to welcome and entertain guests, to interact with foreign travelers, to educate their children and to make big and small decisions relating to their communities. Visitors to The Majlis — Cultures in Dialogue are invited to use the central Majlis in the same way. You can play a board game, listen to records, greet other guests, learn about their cultures, share your own, or start a dialogue about the exhibition.

FACES IN PRAYER Photography by Katharina Heigl Extended until September 6, 2020

Thirty faces, lit by the beauty of spiritual communication, of prayer, of meditation. Intimate photographic portraits of people of different faiths, each of them in the process of connecting their innermost self with something else, maybe outside of themselves but still a fundamental part of the core of their humanity. METAMORPHOSIS. BRAZIL 1998 Photography by Andrea Altemüller Extended until September 6, 2020

The Brazilian rainforest is a contested cultural landscape, today more than ever. In 1998, the German photographer Andrea Altemüller travelled to Brazil, where she met people who transform raw materials from the rain forest in huge variety of ways and turned this into the two photo series Earth from my river and Deforestation of the rainforest. The exhibition Metamorphosis. Brazil 1998 is the first time these series of photos are shown side by side. In the photo series Earth from my river Altemüller portrays the artist Izer Campos. Not far from the metropolis Belém she creates organic ceramic sculptures for which she takes the material from the riverbed in the rhythm of the tides. The photo series Deforestation of the Rainforest, on the other hand, deals with the clearing of the rainforest, which partly takes place for the production of charcoal. Here, an extent of destruction becomes apparent without denouncing the loggers and charcoal burners who often only pursue this work out of economic necessity.

The exhibition Metamorphosis. Brazil 1998 confronts these two photo series for the first time. It opens up a reflexive space of thought in which creative and destructive human forces meet.

Andrea Altemüller was born in Stuttgart and studied photography and graphic design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Her works can be found in renowned collections such as the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, the Daimler Art Collection , the Banco Espirito Santo Collection in Portugal, Eric Franck Fine Art in London and the Bibliothèque National in Paris. Andrea Altemüller currently lives in Vienna and works on her photographic projects all over the world.

You can find more information about the photographer Andrea Altemüller here. A COLONIAL THING Extended until September 6, 2020

The question of how ethnographic museums should deal with their colonial pasts has been discussed even among the general public in recent years. Guidelines and recommendations have been developed that take into account the following aspects: who needs to, should, or can restitute artefacts? To whom should material culture be returned?

The exhibition shows how these guidelines relate to twelve specific objects. This opens up a discursive space for visitors that reveals diverse and surprising facets to the question of the “colonial object” and its future. Simple answers are not to be expected, but all the more impulses for reflection and debate. PRESS PHOTOGRAPHS Press photographs are available in the press section of our website free of charge, for your topical reporting: www.weltmuseumwien.at/en/press/

Heinrich von Siebold (1852 St. Martin/Boppard, Germany - 1908 Freudenstein Castel/Bozen, Italy) © Siebold Archiv Burg Brandenstein

Franz Ferdinand (center) and Heinrich von Siebold (2nd from the left) in Japan 1893 © KHM-Museumsverband Ancient Mexican feathered headdress Mexico, Aztec, early 16th century feathers of the resplendent quetzal, cotingas, roseate spoonbill, Squirrel Cuckoo, kingfisher; wood, fibres, paper, cotton, leather, gold, gilt bronze h. 116, w. 175 © KHM-Museumsverband

Mictlantecuhtli © Foto: D.R. Archivo Digital de las Colecciones del Museo Nacional de Antropología, Secretaría de Cultura – INAH OPENING TIMES, TICKETS, ENTRANCE FEES www.weltmuseumwien.at/en/information/

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