Erika Hoffmann-Koenige: My choice for Atlas of Art from the Hoffmann Collection / Meine Auswahl für Atlas Sztuki aus der Sammlung Hoffmann
15/04/2016 - 5/05/2016
15. April, 2016 - 5. Juni, 2016
The Hoffmann collection - a joint work of Erika and Rolf Hoffmann is a unique collection. It is not only my opinion, the specialists commonly emphasize the uniqueness of the collection and the unprecedented form of its presentation. Erika Hoffmann-Koenige provides work in the space of his Berlin apartment. Every year in July, it prepares another installment of the collected collections. So far, she has only once presented a selection of works from the collection outside her headquarters in Berlin - it was seven years ago in Dresden. For the first time in history, the exhibition from the Hoffmann Collection will be shown outside of Germany, and the place of this presentation will be the Atlas of Art. Exhibition title Erika Hoffmann-Koenige: My choice for the Atlas of Art from the Hoffmann Collection speaks for itself, and the names of the creators whose works the collector chose, additionally intensify the impression of the uniqueness of this event. It is a great honor for us to present our project to our viewers, for which Mrs Erice Hoffmann-Koenige would like to thank you. I would like to add that the meetings with Erika Hoffmann-Koenige are always extraordinary, Mrs. Hoffmann-Koenige is not only a lover and art expert, but also a charismatic personality.
Traditionally, in connection with the exhibition, we have prepared a catalog, this time Polish-German, in which three, very different texts by: prof. Dr. Eugen Blume - Director of Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum of Contemporary Art in Berlin, prof. Maria Poprzęcka from the University of Warsaw and Marta Skłodowska - art historian and curator at the Museum of the City of Lodz. The Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Poland, Rolf Nikel, who took the honorary patronage of the exhibition, agreed to write a few words about this unique presentation. The whole catalog is completed by my conversation with Erika Hoffmann-Koenige. I invite you to read, which will bring closer not only the collector's person, but above all an important, though little known in Poland, collection of contemporary art.
It is with great pleasure that I invite you to visit the exhibition prepared by Erika Hoffmann-Koenige in the exhibition space of Atlas Sztuki.
Jacek Michalak
Ladies and gentlemen, A
work of art does not need words. It acts through color, texture, smell, content and sound. It interacts through the space in which it is placed, through other works with which it interacts as part of the exhibition, as well as through the horizon of the experiences of its recipient. Therefore, the work and its recipient establish a dialogue with each other on various levels of the senses. Hence the works of art created by the Hoffmann Collection, collected since the late 1980s by Erika and Rolf Hoffmanns in their Berlin apartment, are devoid of any comment or indication of the creator or date of creation, so as to encourage the viewer to pick them up and understand them.
As the patron of the exhibition, however, I want to devote a few words to the presented works. Erika Hoffmann-Koenige Exhibition: My choice for Atlas of Art from the Hoffmann Collection is a collection of works from one of the most important private collections of contemporary art, selected especially for the Atlas Sztuki gallery by the owner and curator Erika Hoffmann-Koenige. The exhibition thus creates a unique narrative that enables works of art to resonate in a new place and in a new constellation. The uniqueness of the Łódź exhibition also comes from the fact that it is only the second presentation of the collection outside of Berlin, and several works will be shown for the first time in Poland.
The "visit" of the Berlin collection in Łódź embodies one of its guiding ideas, according to which it should not remain closed in private space, raising the collector's prestige, or in the museum space, losing the individual character of choice. Instead, it is a personal invitation to direct contact with works of art and to exchange ideas.
By a happy coincidence, this "visit to a neighbor" falls in the jubilee year of signing the Treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Poland on good neighborliness and friendly cooperation.
Cooperation between Ms. Erika Hoffmann-Koenige and Mr. Jacek Michalak, chairman of the board of the Atlas Sztuki gallery, as part of - not only - this large exhibition is a perfect example of good relations that over the past 25 years have resulted in a multitude of cross-border forms of cooperation of the highest quality. The unique selection of works of art offers a space for discussion and disputes about art, and thus also our societies.
I would like to thank Mrs. Erika Hoffmann-Koenige and Mr. Jacek Michalak for their commitment and this valuable contribution to the Polish-German jubilee year. I wish all the visitors a lot of pleasant experiences in this discovery artistic journey.
Rolf Nikel
Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany