PERGAMON
Currently on display at
Panorama of the Ancient Metropolis
PERGAMON - the glorious Hellenistic metropolis which, like no other, combined the achievements of its time in architecture, art and culture: In a unique collaboration between art and science, Yadegar Asisi's 360° panorama brings the ancient city and its inhabitants to life. The walk-through work offers a view of the city as if you were standing in the centre of Pergamon in 129 AD, looking out over the landscape around the Acropolis. Highlights of reproductions and original antiquities from the Collection of Classical Antiquities of the National Museums in Berlin interact with the panorama to bring Greco-Roman antiquity to life.
In the exhibition tour, 80 ancient originals such as the famous "Beautiful Head", parts of the Pergamon Altar Frieze, the "Prometheus Group" and many other Hellenistic masterpieces are staged in an artistic play of colour and light. Complemented by paintings and studies by Yadegar Asisi, the exhibition conveys a sense of Pergamene society during the Roman Empire. The artistic staging, motivated by the content, allows us to experience ancient works of art in a new way, while at the same time presenting the results of recent archaeological research.
Pergamon is part of my work in which I try to describe the cultural history of mankind.
Yadegar Asisi
Making Of
In an internationally unique collaboration with the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Berlin State Museums), long and detailed work has resulted in a complete work that combines the results of many years of research with the work of the contemporary artist Yadegar Asisi to create an extraordinary experience.
The panorama was first shown in 2011 as part of a special exhibition at the National Museums in Berlin, and has been on display in Berlin in a revised version in its own exhibition building opposite the Museum Island since 2018. In 2016, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York presented a video installation of the Panorama. From 2023, the work and the accompanying exhibition will be presented for the first time outside of Berlin at the Gasometer in Pforzheim.
Past exhibition locations of PERGAMON
PERGAMONMUSEUM
2011 / 2012, Berlin
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
2016, New York
Publications
Two exceptional publications – an illustrated book and a more compact magazine – open up the world of the ancient city of Pergamon and the unique exhibition project run by the Antikensammlung of the Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin with a panorama by Yadegar Asisi.
Panorama music and soundscape by Eric Babak
From the pilot project EVEREST onwards, Yadegar Asisi is collaborating with the well-known composer and pianist Eric Babak. In close collaboration between the two artists, the impressive soundscape of the panoramas is harmonized directly in the exhibition space with the lighting patterns to create an atmospheric overall installation. Depending on the project, the productions use, among other things, large orchestras and choirs, but also minimalist synthesizer sounds in combination with everyday noises to make the special atmosphere of the themes audible and tangible in the constant change of panorama sequences.