Ruling Egypt from about 2428 to 2416 BC, Sahure was a both politically and culturally outstanding king of the Fifth Dynasty and thus a prominent representative of the Old Kingdom, the “Age of the Pyramids.” Amongst all known pyramid complexes, that of Sahure in Abusir near Cairo with a total length of just under 500 meters reveals a pure, classical form of strict axiality and perfection. The walls are decorated with 10,000 square meters of royal relief art and form an abundant picture book of the Old Kingdom.

Reliefs, architectural elements, sculptures, vases, and valuable papyruses on loan from the Musée du Louvre in Paris, the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection in Berlin, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, give evidence of the worship this great Egyptian pharaoh enjoyed.

The kings of the Fifth Dynasty share a new notion of their descent from the sun god Ra, the most powerful deity. This new notion derived from changes that can already be seen to emerge in the Fourth Dynasty. The Westcar Papyrus, one of the most famous documents of Egyptian culture, tells us that Sahure was fathered by Ra and given birth by a mortal woman. Considering this we will find it less sursprising that Userkaf, Sahure’s predecessor, Sahure himself, and his successors Neferirkare Kakai, Neferefre, Nyuserre Ini, and Menkauhor Kaiu had not only built their own funerary temples on the desert’s fringe, but also erected stupendous edifices for the sun god. One cult center was not enough, each son had his own place of worship erected for his divine father and thus established a direct relationship between himself and god. The sun temple of Sahure mentioned in the texts has not been  discovered so far. A special section of the exhibition in Frankfurt sheds light on the sun temple of Pharaoh Nyuserre Ini – the only well-preserved and investigated site.

A special chapter of the exhibition is dedicated to the scientist and explorer Ludwig Borchardt, who discovered Sahure’s pyramid complex in the early twentieth century and from whose excavations important reliefs from Sahure’s temple complex came into the possession of the Liebieghaus in the course of the finds’ distribution. Historical documents, diaries, and drawings convey a comprehensive picture of the excavation history of Sahure’s pyramid temple which began more than one hundred years ago and still continues today.

This exhibition of some 350 objects gives a comprehensive insight into the world of vodou. The focus is on the Bizango, a vodou secret society whose objects were only to be seen by initiated members in Haiti, and thus hitherto concealed from any broader public.

The objects shown represent a selection from the collection compiled by Swiss-born Marianne Lehmann in Port-au-Prince in the course of the past thirty years. Her collection comprises about 3,000 vodou items. On 12 January 2010, Haiti was shaken by a devastating earthquake. The situation for the Haitian people is still disastrous. Despite being poorly sheltered, the Lehmann collection survived the quake largely without damage. It is planned to donate part of the entrance fees in support of the building of a cultural centre in Haiti, which is intended to become the new depository of the Lehmann collection.

The expression ‘vodou' is understood as those religious practices, which are widespread in West Africa and were brought to America by African slaves. These practices form the basis of Afro-American religions, which were influenced by elements of Catholicism and indigenous beliefs. They include Candomblé in Brazil, the María-Lionza religion in Venezuela, Santería on Cuba, voodoo in the United States, and vodou on Haiti. The word ‘vodou' derives from the Fon language in Benin and Nigeria and is equivalent to ‘god', ‘spirit' or ‘sacred object'.

Some 80% of the ca. 8.5 million inhabitants of Haiti are members of the Catholic Church, while at the same time up to 90% believe in vodou gods and spirits, who are called "loa” (Creole: lwa). There are diverse forms of vodou in the different regions of Haiti, as its followers place importance upon very different elements, which are moreover constantly augmented by new features. Vodou is omnipresent in everyday life, in music and dance, in rituals and symbols.

The Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof's summer show,  Bruce Nauman: Dream Passage is the first major exhibition of the American artist Bruce Nauman in Berlin. The exhibition is being held on the occasion of the installation of the  architectural sculpture Room with My Soul Left Out, Room That Does Not Care from 1984, which was recently donated to the Nationalgalerie by the collector Friedrich Christian Flick. Thus the largest interior sculpture by the artist can now be exhibited in a permanent space, accompanying Double Cage Piece (1974), which has been exhibited in the exterior space of the Hamburger Bahnhof since 2005, and also comes from the  donation by the collector. The sculpture is made of three intersecting corridors, and can be entered; it is the high point of a series of works called Dream Passage which was inspired by a dream of the artist.


Bruce Nauman: Five Marching Men, 1985 
Photo courtesy of Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart Berlin

Explicit political connotations have been a major focus of Nauman’s work since the beginning of the 1980s, for example, in sculptures where hanging metal chairs are used – like Musical Chair from 1983 – illustrating the artist’s critique of torture and violence used in totalitarian regimes. Complex neon works like American Violence, 1981-82 or Sex and Death / Double 69, 1985 for their part explore the connections between sex, violence and death.

On the occasion of the exhibition Dream Passage, further works by Bruce Nauman are on display in the Rieckhallen of Hamburger Bahnhof; here they enter into dialogue with works from the museum’s collections by the artist’s contemporaries, like Robert Morris, Eva Hesse, Richard Jackson or Nikolaus Lang and younger artists like Absalon and Manfred Pernice.

Neo Rauch (b. 1960 in Leipzig), educated at the Leipzig Academy by the old school of Social Realist painters, has become one of the Academy’s most influential graduates. His fusion of industrial symbolism, painterly figuration, and unique brand of Neo-Romanticism are influenced in part by his exposure to Communist-era advertising in former East Germany.

His unmistakable work has transported the history of figurative painting in the 20th century - that found its chief proponents in Beckmann, Bacon and Baselitz - into the present. The retrospective, to be held at the same time in Leipzig and Munich,  provides a comprehensive overview of Rauch's complete oeuvre.

Around 120 paintings in the two venues provide a comprehensive overview of the many different layers in the development of the artist's work. Older paintings from private collections (mostly from overseas) which have never been shown to the general public are also on view, as well as works produced in the past five years.

Richard Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Sebastian Weigle, conductor 
Katharina Wagner, director 
Stage design: Tilo Steffens 
Costumes: Michaela Barth, Tilo Steffens
Lighting: Andreas Grüter
 
Choral conducting: Eberhard Friedrich 
 
Hans Sachs, Schuster: James Rutherford 
Veit Pogner, Goldschmied: Artur Korn 
Kunz Vogelgesang, Kürschner: Charles Reid 
Konrad Nachtigal, Spengler: Rainer Zaun 
Sixtus Beckmesser, Stadtschreiber: Adrian Eröd 
Fritz Kothner, Bäcker: Markus Eiche 
Balthasar Zorn, Zinngießer: Edward Randall 
Ulrich Eisslinger, Würzkrämer: Florian Hoffmann 
Augustin Moser, Schneider: Stefan Heibach 
Hermann Ortel, Seifensieder: Martin Snell 
Hans Schwarz, Strumpfwirker: Mario Klein 
Hans Foltz, Kupferschmied: Diógenes Randes 
Walther von Stolzing: Klaus Florian Vogt 
David, Sachsens Lehrbube: Norbert Ernst 
Eva, Pogners Tochter: Michaela Kaune 
Magdalene, Evas Amme: Carola Guber 
Ein Nachtwächter: Friedemann Röhlig

Richard Wagner: Lohengrin

Andris Nelsons, conductor 
Hans Neuenfels, director 
Sets: Reinhard von der Thannen 
Costumes: Reinhard von der Thannen 
Lighting: Franck Evin 
Video: Björn Verloh 
Eberhard Friedrich, chorus director 

Cast
 
Lohengrin: Jonas Kaufmann 
Heinrich der Vogler: Georg Zeppenfeld 
Elsa von Brabant: Annette Dasch 
Friedrich von Telramund: Hans-Joachim Ketelsen 
Ortrud: Evelyn Herlitzius 
Der Heerrufer des Königs: Samuel Youn 
1. Edler: Stefan Heibach 
2. Edler: Willem Van der Heyden 
3. Edler: Rainer Zaun 
4. Edler: Christian Tschelebiew 

Richard Wagner: Parsifal

Daniele Gatti, conductor 
Stefan Herheim, director 
Stage design: Heike Scheele 
Costumes: Gesine Völlm 
Dramaturgy: Alexander Meier-Dörzenbach 
Video: Momme Hinrichs, Torge Møller
 
Choral Conducting: Eberhard Friedrich 
 
Cast:

Amfortas: Detlef Roth 
Titurel: Diógenes Randes 
Gurnemanz: Kwangchul Youn 
Parsifal: Christopher Ventris 
Klingsor: Thomas Jesatko 
Kundry: Susan Maclean 
1. Gralsritter: Arnold Bezuyen 
2. Gralsritter: Friedemann Röhlig 
1. Knappe: Julia Borchert 
2. Knappe: Ulrike Helzel 
3. Knappe: Clemens Bieber 
4. Knappe: Willem Van der Heyden 
Klingsors Zaubermädchen: Julia Borchert 
Klingsors Zaubermädchen: Martina Rüping 
Klingsors Zaubermädchen: Carola Guber 
Klingsors Zaubermädchen: Christiane Kohl 
Klingsors Zaubermädchen: Jutta Maria Böhnert 
Klingsors Zaubermädchen: Ulrike Helzel 
Altsolo: Simone Schröder