They were both born in 1930: Magdalena Abakanowicz († 2017) and Günther Uecker, and in the work of both artists there are several comparable levels of interpretation on existential questions that are more topical today than ever.
In the Albertinum, textile sculptures by Abakanowicz from the holdings of the National Museum Wrocław (Muzeum Narodowe we Wrocławiu) will be shown, while in Wrocław an installation by Uecker will be presented in the four-dome pavilion as a loan from the artist, who lives in Düsseldorf and whose catalog raisonné is currently being worked on in Dresden in close cooperation with the Uecker Archive.
The group "Tłum" ("The Crowd"), consisting of 26 figures, was created by Abakanowicz between 1986 and 1994. It shows the motif of the repetitive human figure as an anonymous mass of headless figures deprived of their identity. Without a concrete reference to a specific time, they can stand, in a generalized manner, for a non-violent mass protest or for the creeping decomposition of a humanity condemned to powerlessness. A revealing commentary on "The Crowd" is provided by the second work entitled "Klatka" ("Cage"), in which a headless figure is trapped.
The enslavement and oppression of man by man, their torment, entanglement and helplessness in the face of violence, but also the strength of their destructive power, are themes that Uecker deals with. The "Sand Mill" that Uecker will show in Breslau is a timeless installation that has preoccupied him repeatedly since 1966 until today.
