STREAMING MUSEUM’S WORLDWIDE EXHIBITION OF ARTIST EDWINA SANDYS’ “BREAKTHROUGH” COMMEMORATES 20th ANNIVERSARY OF THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL November 5, 2009 to January 5, 2010
Sculpture stands at the site of her grandfather Winston Churchill’s 1946 “Iron Curtain” speech and Memorial, Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri
Exhibition at Chelsea Art Museum, NYC, November 5 to December 5. Opening reception and meet-the-artist, November 5, 6-8pm
Celebration on November 7 at Piazza Duomo, Milan, Italy, viewed worldwide via Internet
.
New York, NY — Streaming Museum is pleased to present “Breakthrough” a sculpture by artist Edwina Sandys in an original documentary version created by the museum for public space. The work will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall that took place on November 9, 1989. It will be on view throughout Streaming Museum’s network of locations in public spaces on 7 continents, StreamingMuseum.org, and in The Project Room for New Media at Chelsea Art Museum, November 5 to December 5.
Streaming Museum will present “Breakthrough” in Piazza Duomo, Milan, Italy, on November 7, 2pm to 6 pm, as part of the city’s historic celebration. This can be viewed live via Piazza Duomo’s webcam.
The exhibition presents and video documentation commemorates the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, with a 32 x 12 ft image of the sculpture “Breakthrough” (1990), a monumental historic work Edwina Sandys created from 8 Berlin Wall panels. The exhibition incorporates audio excerpts from Edwina Sandys’ grandfather Winston Churchill’s historic “Iron Curtain” speech, delivered in 1946 at the site where the “Breakthrough” sculpture stands, by the Churchill Memorial on the campus of Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri; prints that present the history of the work, film documentary, “Writing on the Wall: Remembering the Berlin Wall, Co-produced by John Michalczyk and Ronald Marsh, photographs curated by Bobbi Baker Burrows, LIFE Director of Photography, and music by American composer Julia Wolfe.
On the first anniversary of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, President Ronald Reagan dedicated “Breakthrough” to a crowd of thousands of people including diplomats and dignitaries. “In dedicating this magnificent sculpture, may we dedicate ourselves to hastening the day when all God’s children live in a world without walls. That would be the greatest empire of all.”
In May 1992, the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev visited Westminster College. Speaking from the same podium where Winston Churchill first spoke of an “iron curtain,” Mikhail Gorbachev proclaimed that humanity has entered a new era of history and needs a democratic world government to guide it. “Here we stand, before a sculpture in which the sculptor’s imagination and fantasy, with remarkable expressiveness, convey the drama of the “Cold War,” the irrepressible human striving to penetrate the barriers of alienation and confrontation. It is symbolic that this artist is the granddaughter of Winston Churchill and that this sculpture should be in Fulton.”
Breakthrough concert On November 11 at 7 pm, Performing Arts at Chelsea Art Museum will present pianist Taka Kigawa performing Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” from Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, arranged by Liszt, commemorating the historic performance by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein in East Berlin on December 25, 1989. Also on the program are “L’Isle Joyeuse” by Debussy and “Trois Mouvements de Petrouchka” by Stravinsky.
“Breakthrough” at Chelsea Art Museum is made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.
Contact:
Nina Colosi, Curator, The Project Room for New Media and Performing Arts, Chelsea Art Museum Founder / Creative Director, Streaming Museum
CHELSEA ART MUSEUM 556 WEST 22ND ST. NYC 212-255-0719