Looted art today

New art in the clutches of the new wars

Views of the exhibition: the looting of world art is also staged with a wink, for example during a home invasion(Bild: Wolfgang Spitzbart)

Art theft and the destruction of culture have always been part of wars - and still are today. The third part of the trilogy "The Journey of Images", which the Lentos Art Museum in Linz is organizing for the Capital of Culture in the Salzkammergut, has now opened in Lauffen near Bad Ischl.

Destruction and deportation of art is still commonplace today, which is why the third part of the trilogy "The Journey of Images" focuses on the present.

As a reminder: the Lentos Art Museum in Linz traces works of art that came to their emergency depots in the Salzkammergut on adventurous routes during the Second World War.

Trilogy in Linz, Bad Aussee, Lauffen
The Kammerhof Museum in Bad Aussee is dedicated to the controversial art dealer Wolfgang Gurlitt. Now "it was important to become topical", says Lentos director Hemma Schmutz. Even today, totalitarian regimes and groups consolidate their own rule through the cultural destruction of the enemy, says Schmutz.

Markus Proschek and Hemma Schmutz with carpets as a raft(Bild: Wolfgang Spitzbart)

This is why "The life of things. Looted - abducted - rescued" is dedicated to a total of 14 contemporary positions.

The themes range from Nazi-looted art to colonial theft, from systematic art theft to cultural genocide through the deliberate destruction of works of art in Europe, but also in the Middle East.

A Klimt painting ends up in a designer bag
Lebanese artist Said Baalbaki commemorates the destruction during the Lebanese civil war with a bronze arm. The Turkish artist Hera Büyüktasçiyan made the base for a raft from six rolled-up carpets. Artist Markus Proschek sketches the emptiness of the museum in Mosul after its looting with a painting.

(Bild: Hörmandinger Reinhard)

Reconstructing destroyed objects
Ines Doujak puts a falsely restituted Klimt painting, which was later sold to a billionaire, into a designer bag in a home invasion situation. Also on display are destroyed artifacts from the Middle East, reconstructed from packaging material and newspapers, and a graphic novel.

The fact that the exhibition in Lauffen (until 1 September) was made possible is thanks to host Peter Löw; the German entrepreneur is revitalizing six buildings here through his "European Heritage Project", as we previously reported.