Touring Exhibition "The Art of Movement in Baroque Times"
Specially designed for presentation in highly frequented public places such as train stations, shopping centres, airports, etc., the entertaining exhibition travels to each of the three partner countries with its own exhibition architecture and offers passers-by a rather "accidental" approach to Bach's music, French dance art and the concept of transnational exchange of ideas, thus reaching a very diverse and broad audience.
"European Music Trails - The Art of Movement in Baroque Times" will celebrate its premiere at Promenaden Leipzig Central Station from February 16th - March 3rd, 2024. A midi opening will take place on February 29th at 5pm before the exhibition is sent on its way. Baroque musicians Babett Niclas (harp), Friederike Merkel (flute) and Hannes Malkowski (percussion) and three dancers from the breakdance crew The Saxonz have embarked on a special experiment: The breakdancers improvise to works by Bach and other baroque composers.
In three parts, the exhibition explores the art of movement in the fields of music, dance and ideas and focuses in particular on the European dimension in the music of the time, taking the three countries of Germany, France and Italy as examples. The first part is dedicated to the famous Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach, his inspired and inspiring music and the influences on his compositions by Italian composers such as Antonio Vivaldi or the Marcello brothers, but also by the French art of dance, which was popular at court in his day.
The second part takes a closer look at this Baroque dance style, presenting various dances, the profession of dance master and the art of writing dances down in dance notation. The third part answers the question of how these impulses from France and Italy came to Saxony in the first place in order to reach the little-travelled Bach, on which paths and in whose hands music and sheet music travelled through Europe.
A special architecture was designed for the exhibition in a seminar of the architecture programme at the Leipzig University of Applied Sciences under the guidance of Professor Ronald Scherzer-Heidenberger. In addition to an appealing design with a clear reference to the content, the premise for the students was that the exhibition elements should be easy to assemble and dismantle, have a small packing size and be easy to transport to Italy and France, sustainable materials that could withstand repeated assembly and disassembly and compliance with stability and fire protection requirements.
The work "Dancing Bach" by Michelle Berger was selected from 11 designs due to its quality as well as its feasibility. In order to translate the design draft into a construction plan, Hentsch Architects was commissioned to support Michelle Berger in the realisation of her work.
Several authors from different fields contributed to the content of the exhibition. For example, the artistic director of the French partner and ensemble Le Concert de l'Hostel Dieu was available for an interview in which he describes his view of Bach's music. Dance historian and scholar Gerrit Berenike Heiter wrote the texts for the second part and Dr Christiane Hausmann from Leipzig Bach Archive contributed her expertise to the ideas section.
Exhibition venues (subject to change, will be continuously updated)
16.02.-03.03.24 --- Promenaden Hauptbahnhof Leipzig with finissage on 29.2.24, 17:00 h
04/03-24/03/24 --- Weimar Central Station
27.03.-25.07.24 --- Modena, Italy
27.07.-31.10.24 --- Lyon, France
from 02/11/2024 ----- Leipzig
Imprint
An Exhibition by
Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu, Lyon/France
Teatro Comunale di Modena/Italy
Notenspur Leipzig e.V./Germany
Concept
Notenspur Leipzig e.V.
Preliminary Design
University for Applied Sciences, Department of Architecture, Leipzig/Germany
Student
Michelle Berger, M.A. Architektur
Teacher
Professorship for regional planning and urban development
Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Ronald Scherzer-Heidenberger
Design Revision and Detailed Planning
Hentsch-Architektur, Leipzig/Germany
Michelle Berger, M.A. Architektur
Implementation
Urban und Urban Werbe- und Projektgesellschaft mbH, Leipzig/Germany
Authors
Music
Panel 1 +2 Interview with Franck-Emanuel Comte (Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu)
Panel 3 Patrick Favre-Tissot-Bonvoisin (Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu)
Panel 4 Prof. Dr. Werner Schneider (Notenspur Leipzig e.V.)
Dance
Panel 1-4 Gerrit Berenike Heiter
Ideas
Panel 1 & 2 Dr. Christiane Hausmann (Bach-Archiv Leipzig)
Panel 3 Prof. Dr. Werner Schneider (Notenspur Leipzig e.V.)