Press release
Machine Room of the Gods
How Our Future Was Invented
8 March to 10 September 2023 – extended until 21 January 2024
In 2023, the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung is devoting an exhibition to one of the most exciting connections in the history of mankind – the connection between art and technology. It is a global narrative full of cryptic fables, myths, and visions, fictive and real innovations, and outstanding masterworks. The exhibition “Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented” will shed light on the history of the sciences in antiquity and the Arabic and Asiatic cultures and their influence on the development of art. Technology and art were closely intertwined in antiquity. The Greek term techne stands for all “arts” – of engineering, of construction, et cetera. Primarily, it concerns the knowledge and study of the human mind. Scientific research was pursued with the aim of advancing the human civilization and culture. Whether the pyramids of the ancient Egyptian mastermind Imhotep, the mechanical automata and animated sculptures described by the Greek author Heron, or experiments with the first camera obscura by the Arab mathematician Alhazen – they all exemplify how scientific and artistic work collaborate.
The Frankfurt exhibition will feature 96 prominent objects from international museum collections such as the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Musei Capitolini in Rome and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, as well as from the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung’s own holdings, including the Statuette of Imhotep (Egypt, 332–30 BC), the Statue of Athena (Roman, AD 1st c.), the Statue of Icarus (Roman, AD 1st c.), the Wallpainting with Hephaestus (Pompeii, AD 1st c.), the Portrait of the philosopher Aristotle (Roman, AD 1st–2nd c.), a Universal Astrolabe (by Aḥmad ibn as-Sarrāǧ, Syria, 1328–1329) and the Apollo Kithara (by Jeff Koons, 2019–2022). The multimedia exhibition architecture will transform the entire Liebieghaus into a museum in which art and science of more than five millennia come to life.
Curator: Prof. Dr. Vinzenz Brinkmann (Head of the Department of Antiquities and Asia, Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung)
Project management: Jakob Salzmann, assistant curator (Department of Antiquities and Asia, Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung)
Sponsored by: Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne, Gemeinnützige Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain GmbH, Freunde der Tat des Städelschen Museums-Vereins e. V.
With additional support from: Stiftung Polytechnische Gesellschaft Frankfurt am Main
Media partner: Frankfurter Rundschau
Cultural partner: hr2-kultur
Download the complete press release here.