Exhibition “Archaeoptermix” in the Taubenturm in Dießen

Created: 03/10/2022, 16:56

By: Alois M. Kramer

The introduction to the exhibition "Archaeoptermix" was held by Dr.

Thomas Raff, whose previous position as chairman of the Dießener Heimatverein is now held by the Dießen artist Matthias Rodach.

© Kramer

Dießen – Actually, the exhibition should have been called “Awakened”.

That's what Sarah Cossham said, with Katharina Andress the organizer of the exhibition of 27 artists and craftsmen at the opening on Friday evening in the Taubenturm.

The artists had collected their works under the title "Archaeoptermix".

What goldsmith Adelheid Helm initiated became her memorial exhibition.

October 3 marks the first anniversary of Helm's death.

Therefore, the original name had become inappropriate.

However, rather than the neologism "Archaeoptermix" it would have revealed more about the concept of this home association exhibition.

Because it was about finds that the Augsburg geologist Professor Dr.

Hermann Borchert (1905–1982) and which accidentally fell into the hands of Dr.

Thomas Raff and his wife Adelheid Helm came to breathe new life into their own artistic work and show it to the public.

However, the neologism "Archaeoptermix" also applies: a mixture of the old that is reinterpreted by various artists.

The primeval beast "Archaeopterix" stands for the ancient.

The inheritance

The story of how "Archaeoptermix" came about is actually a fairy tale, said Dr.

Raff firmly in his introductory remarks.

Physically fragile but with a smile as always, the art historian and long-standing chairman of the Diessener Heimatverein told how it all began: In the summer of 2015, Dr.

Frauke Abraham, one of his former students in Augsburg, told him that she had inherited a bundle of strange objects that her grandfather had described as antique.

She wanted to know if and what the value of the collection was.

The heiress, together with Dr.

Bring your treasure to the experts at the auction house Gorny and Mosch, which specializes in antique collector's items, on Munich's Maximiliansplatz for an appraisal.

Alleged Hittite cylinder seals or a bronze Indian from the Wild West were among them.

The result of the estimate was devastating: almost worthless, forgeries, plus incorrect attributions such as Egyptian, Roman, Phrygian.

Or simply too small and taken out of context, so that no museum in the world would have taken it.

Katharina Andress' artistic 'reaction' (left) to a piece from the collection that Raffl and Helm received: a small metal figure whose meaning and/or use can no longer be clarified afterwards.

© Kramer

But that was incentive enough – especially for Adelheid Helm – to tie an exhibition concept to it.

There were meetings where fellow artisans and artists could take home pieces that they might have an idea for.

The result of this experiment has taken concrete form and can be found on the three floors of the Taubenturm.

You can see the many different ways in which creative minds have created new things from found objects, incorporated old ones and thus taken up a technique that has now become part of the canon of art.

It is known under the term “objet trouvé”, “sensing security” or also the readymade.

Among other things, you will find small wooden figures by Katharina Andress, noble silver bowls by Florian Biehler, a miniature landscape made of metal by Andreas Kloker and household gods such as those found in Roman graves by Gisbert Stach.

Of course, a number of jewelery works by Adelheid Helm herself are also on display in a showcase: necklaces, rings, earrings and cameos.

The "Archaeoptermix" exhibition in the Taubenturm in Dießen can be seen until October 16 on Saturdays and Sundays from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.