Rüstkammer: Dialogue with the Schenkung Sammlung Hoffmann

Werkzeuge mit Elfenbeingriffen, um 1550–1600

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Monica Bonvicini and the tools of Elector August of Saxony

Dialogue with the Schenkung Sammlung Hoffmann

This hammer has nothing in common with the profane article of daily use which, at first glance, we think we recognize in it. On the contrary: It is devoid of any use. With her Leather Hammer # 1, enveloped in the finest glove leather, the Italian artist Monica Bonvicini produced a highly aesthetic and sensuous piece of jewellery, whose materiality and presentation bring to mind extravaganc rather than rough work.

Exhibition Site Residenzschloss

DATES 11/03/2020—30/11/2020

In the presentation Concept and Encounter: The World around 1600 at the Dresden Rüstkammer, the hammer enters a dialogue with the tools and measuring instruments Elector August of Saxony (1526–1586) acquired for his private collection. These objects, too—some of them featuring intricate carving, etching, gilding and ivory work—were not intended for everyday use. Both the contemporary artwork and the historical exhibits, then, are not so much objects of utility as objects for viewing that carry multiple meanings.

**Monica Bonvicini, Leather Hammer # 1, 2004** Schenkung Sammlung Hoffmann, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

While Monica Bonvicini presents an ironic idealization of the hammer, caricaturing its masculine connotations—its symbolism of potency, strength and destruction— by charging it with eroticism, the electoral collection of highly delicate tools paints a vivid picture of a prince-elector whose various interests and pursuits were part of his role as a ruler.

In March 2018, the Hoffmann family donated their extensive collection of contemporary art, comprising some 1,200 works, to the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. A goal for the donated works is to have them enter a dialogue with objects from the various museums of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, thereby opening up different perspectives and levels of meaning for both the contemporary and the historical exhibits.