Capital of Culture region shows "Museumcircle" after John Cage

An unusual exhibition based on the idea of avant-garde artist John Cage brings together museum pieces from crucifixes to Trabi models in Chemnitz. The curator of the 100 or so exhibits is not a museum expert, but chance. The skull of a hippopotamus can be seen in the hall of the industrial museum, as can a perfume bottle and a mining wagon. But what does all this mean?

An unusual exhibition based on the idea of avant-garde artist John Cage brings together museum pieces in Chemnitz that are otherwise rarely shown together. A Trabant model, a crucifix and the skull of a hippopotamus stand side by side in the hall of the industrial museum; a perfume bottle is on display as well as a mining wagon and landscape paintings. But what does all this mean?

The US composer John Cage (1912-1992) was an important pioneer of new music. He wrote works such as "4.33", in which not a single note is played, and the organ piece ORGAN²/ASLSP, the slowest piece of music in the world. It has been playing continuously in a church in Halberstadt (Saxony-Anhalt) since 2001 and is said to last until the year 2640. As a musician, Cage has elevated chance to a principle of composition. With the "Museumcircle", he also wrote an exhibition score for museums one year before his death.

The essence is that an exhibition is organized in a museum with objects from other museums in the same city. Where the exhibits are placed is determined by chance. This is intended to break down hierarchies and remove exhibits from the authority of museums.

Around 100 exhibits from more than 50 museums

According to initiator Alexander Ochs, the concept has been implemented twice so far in Munich and Frankfurt - and now in Chemnitz as European Capital of Culture 2025. More than 50 museums from the city and the surrounding area have each proposed several exhibits, explained Ochs. Which ones actually made it into the exhibition was decided at random. For the show itself, the exhibition hall was divided into squares, to which the individual pieces were then randomly assigned.

There are loans from the Enduro Museum Zschopau, the Zwickau Art Collections, the ZeitWerkStadt Museum in Frankenberg, the Seiffen Toy Museum, the State Museum of Archaeology and the Ehrenfriedersdorf Tin Mine. The show reflects the art and cultural history of the region in an unusual way. The curator is chance, which allows visitors to make their own associations with the exhibits without directing them from the outset. Ochs: "This allows visitors to have their very own, new experiences."

The "Museumcircle" is a prelude to the "Purple Path", the large-scale art and sculpture trail that connects Chemnitz with more than 30 locations in the surrounding area. It will be officially opened in April and is dedicated to the narrative "Everything comes from the mountain". The exhibition is a kind of humus from which this narrative has grown, says Ochs. "It closes a circle."

The exhibition "John Cage. Museumcircle" opens on Thursday evening (January 30) and is on display until May 18. The show will be accompanied by three concerts with works by Cage, Satie, Schütz and Röbel.