Published: 10 November, 2009, 19:20
Edited: 10 November, 2009, 19:57
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, French collector Sylvestre Verger presents his collection of 43 works that were made either on the Wall or are related to the theme.
This symbolic exhibition combines art and history, celebrates democracy, and proclaims universal values such as the elimination of political barriers, a world without discrimination, peace, and mutual understanding among people.
The collection made up of world-renown modern artists and sculptors is in a way unique, as it mostly consists of works created on the concrete “canvases” – the blocks of the Wall, which was brought down on November 9 exactly 20 years ago.
Remarkable names, such as Ilya Kabakov, Mimmo Palladino, Grisha Bruskin, Boris Zaborov, Richard Long, Eric Boulatov, Daniel Bjurén, Armand, Vadim Zakharov, and many others signed graffiti on the Wall to show their sympathy and shared pain towards the ruined destinies of German people, and their disagreement with the regime – the Iron Curtain between Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc.
Since the early 1990s the collection, which is part of an important socio-cultural phenomenon, was repeatedly shown outside of France. In 1991 it was displayed in Madrid and London, while in 1998 it appeared in Cyprus. In 2004 the collection came to Geneva. In November 2005, it was shown in several cities of South Korea, and in spring and summer of this year the exhibition visited the Parisian Palais Royal and Berlin Deutsches Museum.
Now Moscow’s residents can dive again into the history of New Europe, a new world through the eyes of solid witnesses of the historical breakdown and enjoy the exhibition in Moscow’s Winzavod Modern Art Centre, starting from November 10 through to December 13.