The exhibition titled "Midnight in Paris" by Anton Henning explores the intersection of painting's enduring presence and the rise of Modernism, paralleling themes from Woody Allen's film. Claudia Emmert, director of the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen, highlights this connection, noting the museum's unique Bauhaus architecture. Henning's approach contrasts traditional exhibition formats by revisiting the origins of Modernism, assembling past avant-gardes into a single salon. The exhibition unfolds through a chronologically organized yet condensed spatial sequence that reflects established interpretative patterns. The first room evokes the heavy pathos of the Wilhelminian style, with references to Wagner and a portrait that may depict either Adolf Hitler or a young Heidegger. This sets the stage for Modernism's unstoppable ascent, which Henning illustrates in the second room, where dynamic shapes and the artist's subjectivity soar. A "window" in the end wall hints at the third room, symbolizing the dawn of a new era that resonates with contemporary life. Here, all forms are examined and historically reevaluated, leading to the motto "everything goes." This structured space ultimately embodies the complexities of identity and existence, capturing the mise en abyme of our lives. The exhibition runs from July 26, 2015, to January 10, 2016.
