Exhibiting Brancusi: Then and Now and Pure Joy: Sculpture and the matter of its staging

Exhibiting Brancusi: Then and NowPure Joy: Sculpture and the Matter of Its StagingKeynote lectures in English with Ariane Coulondre and Dr. Nina Schallenberg
Constantin Brancusi devoted great attention to the presentation of his sculptures—through the use of pedestals, colored backdrops, and lighting. This is particularly evident in his Paris studio, which was conceived as a total work of art. How can Brancusi’s work be exhibited today? How can one remain true to the spirit of his studio without “freezing” the arrangement of the sculptures? The lecture reflects on the reconstruction of the studio in the building on the Piazza of the Centre Pompidou and then presents the experiences of recent Brancusi exhibitions in Paris and Berlin.
Ariane Coulondre is Chief Curator in the Department of Modern Collections at the Musée National d’Art Moderne at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, where she oversees the sculpture collection. She has curated several exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou, including “Brancusi: Art Is Just Beginning” (2024), “Germaine Richier” (2023), and “Cubism” (2019). She is co-curator of the Brancusi exhibition at the Neue Nationalgalerie.
Brancusi sought to evoke “pure joy” in those who viewed his sculptures. This lecture explores why this goal led him to extend his sculptural practice far into the exhibition space. 
Nina Schallenberg heads the Exhibitions Department at the Jewish Museum Berlin. Previously, she worked as a collections and exhibitions curator at institutions including the Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart and the Wilhelm Hack Museum. She wrote her dissertation on staged sculpture by Auguste Rodin, Medardo Ross, and Constantin Brancusi. 
Admission is free for all events in the supporting programme, subject to venue capacity.
The event programme is supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute, represented by its Berlin branch, the Romanian Cultural Institute “Titu Maiorescu” Berlin.
The lectures are part of the exhibition Brancusi at Neue Nationalgalerie, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz. It was realized in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou, made possible by FREUNDE der Nationalgalerie

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Next date:

• Date Wednesday, 08/July/2026 18:00 bis 19:30
• Venue Neue Nationalgalerie
• Address Potsdamer Straße 50, 10785 Berlin-Tiergarten