Alicja Kwade donates sculpture “Goldelse” for sculpture garden – Neue Nationalgalerie | from 13.08.2024

Alicja Kwade’s sculpture “Goldelse” (2021) can be seen in the sculpture garden of the Neue Nationalgalerie from August 13, 2024. The 160 kg gilded bronze figure refers in form and content to the statue of Victoria, the goddess of victory, on Berlin’s Victory Column in Tiergarten, which Berliners call “Goldelse”.

Image above: Alicja Kwade, Goldelse, 2021 © Courtesy of the artist and Pace Gallery. Image credit: Photograph by Roman März.

Alicja Kwade (born 1979) created the sculpture “Goldelse” (2021) with the help of scanning technology photo-trigonometry and a 3D model in order to be as close as possible to the Victoria of the Berlin Victory Column (1864-1873) created by Friedrich Drake. Kwade removed the statue’s traditional symbols of power, such as her wings, the laurel wreath she holds in her raised right hand, the staff from her left with the Iron Cross and the eagle helmet. Without military equipment and martial gestures, Kwade’s Victoria has lowered her arms in contrast to the original. Kwade has adapted the size of the goddess of victory, who has been brought down to the ground, to human dimensions. With a height of 164 cm, she now corresponds exactly to the artist’s height.

The artistic reinterpretation refers to the eventful history of the Goldelse. Created as a symbol of Prussia’s victories, appropriated under National Socialism and moved to its current location at the Großer Stern in Tiergarten, it became a symbol of freedom for Berlin’s techno and queer scene in the 1990s thanks to the Love Parade.

Alongside “Daphne” (1918) by Renée Sintenis and “Venus Negra” (1958) by Marianna Nuñez del Prado, “Goldelse” by Alicja Kwade is now the third sculpture by a female artist in the sculpture garden of the Neue Nationalgalerie.

As part of Sound in the Garden, the “Unveiling” of the sculpture in the sculpture garden will take place on Thursday, August 22, 2024 from 7 p.m. with live music by ROSIN, Stabat Kater and DJ sets by lariferrarie & Rico Sperl. The artist will be present. Admission is free, but registration is mandatory at: https://pretix.eu/vfn/unveiling/

Thanks to a generous donation from Berlin artist Alicja Kwade and the Pace Gallery, the “Goldelse” will be on permanent display in the sculpture garden of the Neue Nationalgalerie.

WHEN?

From Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Opening hours: Friday – Sunday, Tuesday – Wednesday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Sunday, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.

“Unveiling” of the sculpture: Thursday, August 22, 2024

WHERE?

Neue Nationalgalerie
Kulturforum
Potsdamer Straße 50
10785 Berlin