| |
November 5 - December 12
BREAKTHROUGH by Edwina Sandys
Presented by the Project Room for New Media at the
Chelsea Art Museum
photo by Richard Sugg
"Breakthrough” an exhibition by artist Edwina Sandys, will be on view November 5 to December 12 in The Project Room for New Media at Chelsea Art Museum. The exhibition commemorates the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 with a 32 x 12 ft image of the sculpture "Breakthrough" (1990), a monumental historic work Edwina Sandys created from 8 Berlin Wall panels. The exhibition incorporates audio excerpts from Edwina Sandys’ grandfather Winston Churchill’s historic "Iron Curtain" speech, delivered in 1946 at the site where the “Breakthrough” sculpture stands, by the Churchill Memorial on the campus of Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri; prints that present the history of the work, film documentary, “Writing on the Wall: Remembering the Berlin Wall, Co-produced by John Michalczyk and Ronald Marsh, photographs curated by Bobbi Baker Burrows, LIFE Director of Photography, and music by American composer Julia Wolfe.
On the first anniversary of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, President Ronald Reagan dedicated “Breakthrough” to a crowd of thousands of people including diplomats and dignitaries. “In dedicating this magnificent sculpture, may we dedicate ourselves to hastening the day when all God’s children live in a world without walls. That would be the greatest empire of all.”
In May 1992, the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev visited Westminster College. Speaking from the same podium where Winston Churchill first spoke of an “iron curtain,” Mikhail Gorbachev proclaimed that humanity has entered a new era of history and needs a democratic world government to guide it. “Here we stand, before a sculpture in which the sculptor’s imagination and fantasy, with remarkable expressiveness, convey the drama of the “Cold War,” the irrepressible human striving to penetrate the barriers of alienation and confrontation. It is symbolic that this artist is the granddaughter of Winston Churchill and that this sculpture should be in Fulton.”
The exhibition will also be presented throughout the Streaming Museum’s international network in cyberspace and public spaces on 7 continents. In collaboration with the city of Milan, the exhibition will take place in Piazza Duomo as part of their celebration of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. For information go to streamingmuseum.org.
On November 11 at 7 pm, Performing Arts at Chelsea Art Museum will present pianist Taka Kigawa performing Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” commemorating the historic performance by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein in East Berlin on December 25, 1989.
 
"Breakthrough" is made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.
Contact:
Nina Colosi
Curator, New Media and Performing Arts, Chelsea Art Museum
Founder / Creative Director, Streaming Museum
nina.colosi@gmail.com
|
