Utopia in Munich shows "The Kiss": Gustav Klimt as a gold mine

A multimedia installation celebrates Gustav Klimt's “The Kiss” in Munich's Utopia.

What do “immersive” exhibitions like this bring?

A visit.

There must be a misunderstanding.

The organizers call the second part of their “immersive story” in Utopia “experience area”.

But what, please, is experience about standing in a mirrored room and taking selfies?

You feel very, very old when you visit “Klimt's Kiss”.

And a little bit sad.

Is it no longer experienced today, but only staged?

That's how it seems when you see how happily one visitor after the other disappears into the golden room to photograph themselves in every imaginable pose with the cell phone camera.

The lady from Utopia, who is very enthusiastic about the clicks and likes, points up enthusiastically and guides you through the exhibition, which starts on March 15, 2023.

“We also added mirrors to the ceiling.

If you want to perform something on the floor,

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According to the organizer, you can “bathe in gold” in the mirror room.

The press photos make it clear that it is above all a space for golden self-portrayal.

© MORRIS MAC MATZEN

Already clear: The TikTok generation should be enthusiastic about art here.

You want to be “low-threshold”.

want many.

Hook number one: the path from easily accessible to irrelevant is sometimes just a few smartphone clicks away.

Hook number two: 25 euros per adult somehow doesn't really have much to do with accessibility for everyone anymore.

You really went into this "multimedia staging of the life and work of the Art Nouveau pioneer Gustav Klimt" with an open mind.

As recommended by said nice lady, sat down on one of the stools.

And let your gaze wander with genuine interest.

"Don't just look at a wall, this is a spatial experience." So then: 45 minutes Klimt show from all sides.

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Klimt from all sides is available via a multimedia installation at “Klimt's Kiss” in Munich's Utopia.

© MORRIS MAC MATZEN

It quickly becomes clear why, after Vincent van Gogh and Frida Kahlo, Klimt now has to believe in Utopia.

Everything is so beautifully colorful in their works.

The flowery ornaments can be excellently animated, pouring out over the visitors via light projection.

Excerpts from Gustav Klimt's paintings are selected, mixed up, individual figures are set in motion as if they were coming to life.

In addition, music from the time of the Austrian artist (1862-1918).

Couldn't say anything.

Klimt's revolutionary imagery, the fire in his works and the provocation they contain are immediately apparent even to those who have never heard his name.

And to make it clear that Klimt was not just a lover of women, but someone who celebrated women and their (sexual) needs,

there is a fictitious conversation between a student and Klimt's partner, the fashion designer Emilie Flöge, via the audio track accompanying the pictures.

Just as Flöge freed women from bodices and corsets with reform dresses, so Klimt tore them out of conventions and did away with the demure image of the asexual, well-behaved wife.

That's the brief analysis.

In the Alte Pinakothek in Munich you can see real paintings by Gustav Klimt

In such a mood, one would actually like to see such a real Klimt.

Well, there are no real paintings here.

For “The Kiss” you would have to go to Vienna.

Incidentally, the annual ticket for all under-26s in the Upper Belvedere is 25 euros.

A six-year-old child pays 20 euros at the weekend for a single visit to Utopia.

If this show is recommended at all, then only for young people.

But if you want the whole thing to be more than an Instagrammable family outing, you shouldn't be satisfied with the mere videos.

But after (or instead of) Utopia into the Alte Pinakothek: Klimt's portrait of Margarethe Stonborough-Wittgenstein hangs there, live and in color.

And hundreds of other masterpieces, such as those by the Munich Secession, which served as models for the Viennese.

On Sundays for an entrance fee of one euro.

That's an experience.