01 Whiteness, Sculpture, History

[INFO]

Exhibition, 2021, Glyptothek, Munich, Germany

[DESCRIPTION]

Ancient sculpture is reputated for its purity, moderate, perfectionthe precise proportion, the beautiful composition and of course, the white color with its marble materials. The idea seems neutral for its obvious aesthetic perspective. However, what remains not so popular is that Nazi and Hiltler has also been inspired by the whiteness and proportion of ancient sculpture and use it as to support their rasicm and slaughter, which is far from neutral.

What if the base of all of these trauma, the whiteness of ancient treasure, is 100% trick and misunderstanding? We will never hear reply from the history but it is never late to correct one’s way forward and question oneself. The exhibition aims to arouse visitors’ reflection of their common sense, as well as topics of rasicm and history.

From the time of the rediscovery of Greek sculptures in the Renaissance, Greek art has been acknowledged as the superior genre of art for its simplicity, for its purity, its moderation. With white marble, Greek sculptures are admired as ideal figures. Artists continue imitating the characters of artwork of the ancient times and inheriting spirits and genes from the whiteness of Greek art, which could account for the renewals of ancient art like the renaissance, neoclassical and Greek revival periods.

However, this could be not true. Leftover pigments have been found on surfaces of ancient sculptures, revealing the possibility they had been colored vividly instead of intently created with purely white marbles. With advanced technologies today, we could even feel more confident with this conclusion. UV-fluorescence photograph has told us the chemical components of the pigments used to exist on the surfaces so we could even deduce what the pigments were. And equipped with 3D-scanning and 3D printing, it is not so difficult to make a copy with the original colors on the sculpture. This discovery really challenges our common sense about Greek art, as well as something deeper in our mind and origin.

But the question is, why it is so important to clarify it? In most circumstances, people tend to recognize it as something from an aesthetic perspective and historical facts, however, any point could cause a butterfly effect. There were some historical periods when whiteness came over its literal meaning of the physical color to an extent of racism and Greek sculptures were usurped to closely connect with the origins of a specific group of people. If we looked back at Nazi history, we will be shocked by the fact that how political this neutral aesthetic character could be. It serves as an ideal symbol, a rule, and a standard, to help build a common enemy and carry out inhuman slaughters.

That is the reason we should look back to the origin and try to figure out the truth. The whiteness of ancient sculpture has caused much more effects than we could have ever expected. We are criticizing Nazis for their policies of racism and with updated knowledge about the colored Greek sculpture, their claims come to be more ridiculous and the intention behind them becomes clearer.

Is this trend going to march again? Even though we are not in the same state as at that time, problems of racism and discrimination of discrepancy still exist. Now, it is time to think about this question, which could be hard to answer. But for sure, reflection on history is always good for seeking answers to the future.

NARRATIVE AND STRUCTURE The Exhibition has a clear structure following timeline and is composed of 3 sections, 7 interior rooms and expands to the center courtyard. The first section focus on the origin of this whiteness admiration with Intro, The School of Athens and Noble Simplicity and Calm Grandeur. The second section tells stories of Nazi and the final part is the time to reveal another truth - with scientific explanations and advanced technologies. The end of the exhibition connects history to our present days, calling for reflection on racism problems.

EXHIBITION CATALOG An exhibition catalog is designed to be aligned with the physical exhibition itself as a supplement to the experience. At the start of each section, the viewers will be able to receive a part of the brochure with a section title on the cover and a question at the end. Each part has a cover and an attached question at the bottom to be answered by visitors. They are free to write, stick to the wall, and communicate with each other in the final room. Since there is a reverse in the exhibition, the time to look back to self answers’ changes will be inspiring.

Introduce

Give

Explain how Nazi uses the theory of whiteness for their slaughters

A performance to show the truth behind that the ancient sculptures are once colored

Extend the topic to modern times with magazines and comment boards to encourage discussions

The visiting circulation starts from the courtyard and travels around half of the building. Each room has its own spatial language of narrative and the space is integrated.

In ROOM6, three projectors gradually give color to the original white sculpture, which is from the pediment of an ancient temple, revealing the final secret and the plot reverse.