Machine Room of the Gods

How Our Future Was Invented
8 March to 10 September 2023 – extended until 21 January 2024

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Press texts

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.

Wall texts

Machine Room of the Gods
How Our Future Was Invented

8 March to 10 September 2023 – extended until 21 January 2024

Technology surrounds and benefits us everywhere we go. Yet however new it may seem to mankind, we have not only the past two centuries to thank for this circumstance. Scientific research was already being carried out thousands of years ago, usually with the aim of achieving ambitious art projects. The findings did not remain bound to their cultures of origin but travelled from one to the next, leading to outstanding accomplishments in ever new places. Scientific thought began with a look to the heavens. The movements of the planets and stars provided the model for the development of artificial mechanics. Technology was moreover an integral part of ancient mythological narratives and was passed along in the works of ancient artists. With the aid of modern media, but also loans of prominent artworks, the exhibition “Machine Room of the Gods” now displays these spectacular findings throughout the rooms of the Liebieghaus. As set forth by the exhibition concept, its aim is to shed light on various cultures as well as different areas of science and their significance for art.

Download the complete wall texts here.


Press images

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"
Photo: Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung – Norbert Miguletz

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"
Photo: Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung – Norbert Miguletz

Ausstellungsansicht „Maschinenraum der Götter. Wie unsere Zukunft erfunden wurde“

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"
Photo: Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung – Norbert Miguletz

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"
Photo: Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung – Norbert Miguletz

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"
Photo: Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung – Norbert Miguletz

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"
Photo: Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung – Norbert Miguletz

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"
Photo: Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung – Norbert Miguletz

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"
Photo: Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung – Norbert Miguletz

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"
Photo: Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung – Norbert Miguletz

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"
Photo: Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung – Norbert Miguletz

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"
Photo: Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung – Norbert Miguletz

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"
Photo: Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung – Norbert Miguletz

Exhibition view "Machine Room of the Gods. How Our Future Was Invented"

Bilingual lexical cuneiform tablet with Sumerian and Accadian entries
Mesopotamia, late 1st mill. BCE
Clay, H. 8.1 cm, W. 6.5 cm, D. 2.2 cm
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. no. 86.11.61
Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Bilingual lexical cuneiform tablet with Sumerian and Accadian entries, Mesopotamia, late 1st mill. BCE

Scientific reconstruction of a Greek-Oriental Artemis (Taurian Artemis?) from the Acropolis of Athens, Variant B
2005, revised 2023
marble stucco on plaster cast, natural pigments in egg tempera, wood, tin (gilded and silverplated)
H. 150 cm
Frankfurt am Main, Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung (Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project), inv. no. St.P 687
Photo: Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung – Vinzenz Brinkmann
Original: Athens, ca. 520 BC, marble, Acropolismuseum, Athens, inv. no. 679

Scientific reconstruction of a Greek-Oriental Artemis (Taurian Artemis?) from the Acropolis of Athens, Variant B, 2005, revised 2023

Statuette of the ibis-headed Egyptian god Thoth
Egypt, 400–200 BCE
Faience, H. 11.1 cm, W. 3 cm, D. 3.9 cm
Munich, Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer
Kunst, inv. no. ÄS 7908
Photo: Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst, München, Roy Hessing

Statuette of the ibis-headed Egyptian god Thoth, Egypt, 400–200 BCE

Statuette of Imhotep
Egypt, 332–30 BCE
Cupreous metal, precious metal inlay, H. 14 cm, W. 4.8 cm, D. 9.8 cm
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. no. 26.7.852a, b
Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Statuette of Imhotep, Egypt, 332–30 BCE

Statue of Athena
Roman, 1st cent. CE (copy of a Greek bronze original by Myron)
Marble, H. 173.5 cm
Frankfurt am Main, Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, inv. no. 195
Photo: Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Frankfurt am Main

Statue of Athena, Roman, 1st cent. CE (copy of a Greek bronze original by Myron)

Portrait head of Aristotle
Roman, 1st–2nd cent. CE after a Greek original of the 4th century BC
Marble, H. 30.5 cm
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, inv. no. ANSA I 246
Photo: KHM-Museumsverband

Portrait head of Aristotle, Roman, 1st–2nd cent. CE after a Greek original of the 4th century BC

Water vessel (so-called Caeretaner Hydria), the Greek god Hephaestus being carried back to Olympus
Greek, 525 BCE
Clay, H. 41.5 cm, diam. 37.5 cm
Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, inv. no. ANSA IV 3577
Photo: KHM-Museumsverband

Water vessel (so-called Caeretaner Hydria), the Greek god Hephaestus being carried back to Olympus, Greek, 525 BCE

Statue of Icarus
Roman, 1st cent. CE
Marble, H. 102 cm
Rome, Musei Capitolini, Centrale Montemartini
Photo: © Roma, Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali

Statue of Icarus, Roman, 1st cent. CE

Tony Freeth
Digital reconstruction of the Antikythera Mechanism
Photo: Tony Freeth

Tony Freeth, Digital reconstruction of the Antikythera Mechanism

Historical rendering of the famous Elephant Clock by al-Jazarī (12th–early 13th cent.)
Iraq, 1315 CE
Ink, watercolour and gold on paper
H. 51 cm, W. 38.7 cm
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. no. 57.51.23
Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Historical rendering of the famous "Elephant Clock" by al-Jazarī, Iraq, 1315 CE

Matthias Steinl
Maria Immaculata
Vienna, 1688
Limewood, traces of gold gilding, H. 93 cm
Frankfurt am Main, Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Inv. 1532
Photo: Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Frankfurt am Main

Matthias Steinl, Maria Immaculata, Vienna, 1688

Jeff Koons (*1955)
Apollo Kithara
2019–2022
polychromed PMMA and animatronic snake
233.6 x 110.7 x 77 cm
New York, Jeff Koons Studio
© Jeff Koons, Photo: Eftychia Vlachou, Courtesy DESTE Foundation

Jeff Koons, Apollo Kithara, 2019–2022

Prof. Dr. Vinzenz Brinkmann, Head of the Department of Antiquities and Asia, Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung
Photo: Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung – Norbert Miguletz

Prof. Dr. Vinzenz Brinkmann, Head of the Department of Antiquities and Asia, Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung
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