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Paradoxes of War Critique on Display: The Dresden Bundeswehr Museum of Military History

Paradoxes of War Critique on Display: The Dresden Bundeswehr Museum of Military History Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 2020, vol. 20, no. 1, 90–106 https://doi.org/10.1080/14434318.2020.1764231 Paradoxes of War Critique on Display: The Dresden Bundeswehr Museum of Military History Deborah Ascher Barnstone* Although the Dresden Bundeswehr Museum of Military History reopened in 2011, dedicated to a ‘critical, differentiated and honest confrontation with military, war and violence’, the conflicting readings of Daniel Libeskind’s aggressive architec- tural addition, and the exhibitions installed within, call into question the ability of any museum to mount an effective critique of war. The enormous perforated steel wedge penetrates the old neoclassical building, disrupting its traditional symmetry and adding open, light spaces by breaking through and splitting open the host structure. The transparent new building was intended as a symbolic foil to the opacity of the older one, which dates to Germany’s authoritarian past, thereby signifying democratic openness and the new role of the military in con- temporary, unified Germany. In this way, the building plays upon familiar sym- bolic tropes active in West Germany since 1949 and in unified Germany since 1990 that set openness, accessibility, and transparency against exclusivity, closed plan, and opacity. The addition intentionally deals in such oppositions, pitting the dynamic new architecture against http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art Taylor & Francis

Paradoxes of War Critique on Display: The Dresden Bundeswehr Museum of Military History

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Paradoxes of War Critique on Display: The Dresden Bundeswehr Museum of Military History

Abstract

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 2020, vol. 20, no. 1, 90–106 https://doi.org/10.1080/14434318.2020.1764231 Paradoxes of War Critique on Display: The Dresden Bundeswehr Museum of Military History Deborah Ascher Barnstone* Although the Dresden Bundeswehr Museum of Military History reopened in 2011, dedicated to a ‘critical, differentiated and honest confrontation with military, war and violence’, the conflicting readings of Daniel Libeskind’s aggressive...
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2020 The Art Association of Australia and New Zealand, Inc
ISSN
2203-1871
eISSN
1443-4318
DOI
10.1080/14434318.2020.1764231
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 2020, vol. 20, no. 1, 90–106 https://doi.org/10.1080/14434318.2020.1764231 Paradoxes of War Critique on Display: The Dresden Bundeswehr Museum of Military History Deborah Ascher Barnstone* Although the Dresden Bundeswehr Museum of Military History reopened in 2011, dedicated to a ‘critical, differentiated and honest confrontation with military, war and violence’, the conflicting readings of Daniel Libeskind’s aggressive architec- tural addition, and the exhibitions installed within, call into question the ability of any museum to mount an effective critique of war. The enormous perforated steel wedge penetrates the old neoclassical building, disrupting its traditional symmetry and adding open, light spaces by breaking through and splitting open the host structure. The transparent new building was intended as a symbolic foil to the opacity of the older one, which dates to Germany’s authoritarian past, thereby signifying democratic openness and the new role of the military in con- temporary, unified Germany. In this way, the building plays upon familiar sym- bolic tropes active in West Germany since 1949 and in unified Germany since 1990 that set openness, accessibility, and transparency against exclusivity, closed plan, and opacity. The addition intentionally deals in such oppositions, pitting the dynamic new architecture against

Journal

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art – Taylor & Francis

Published: Jan 2, 2020

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