1. South Tyrol
  2. Eisack Valley
  3. Brixen / Bressanone
  4. Palace of Tears
Exhibitions

Palace of Tears

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On January 30 at 5:30 PM, the StadtGalerie Brixen opens the exhibition “Tränenpalast / Palazzo delle lacrime” – the first exhibition curated by Leander Schwazer at the city gallery of Brixen, under the direction of the Südtiroler Künstlerbund. Contemporary artistic positions enter into dialogue with objects from the collections of the Hofburg Brixen and the Pharmacy Museum Brixen. At the center lies a universal phenomenon: crying.



Tears are as varied as the situations they arise from. They can express sorrow and pain, but also joy, overwhelm, relief, or liberation. “Like art, crying also unleashes a transformative force,” says curator Leander Schwazer. In the exhibition, he connects religious images and objects that still shape Brixen’s city history today with works by contemporary artists, exploring the phenomenon of crying in diverse ways.



A microscopic photograph of a tear by Dutch artist Maurice Mikkers resembles a church window and veils the view of a pitch-crying figure by Aron Demetz. At the same time, Ludwig Berger’s sound installation transforms the vaulted space of the StadtGalerie into a glacial crevice, filled with gurgling, bubbling, and rushing sounds. You hear the “tears” of a melting glacier, winding through the room like a stream – a poetic reminder that not only humans cry. Amidst this soundscape is a painting series by Peter Kaser, portraying the “Stubenferner” glacier in Pflersch Valley in warm, pop-inspired colors. Emotions are reflected in the surrounding landscape. The glacier’s lament is interrupted by a composition for clarinet, violin, and cello by Brixen composer Manuela Kerer, exploring the weight of a tear.



A special focus of the exhibition is the “Tear Saline”: the StadtGalerie becomes a space where citizens of Brixen are invited to cry, and their tears are transformed into the finest “South Tyrolean Tear Salt.” Viennese performance artist Barbara Ungepflegt will activate the saline at the opening, together with her collaborators, and invites the public to participate in this social sculpture throughout the duration of the exhibition.



Few things are as socially shame-laden as crying – the convention of hiding weakness applies especially to men. Swiss artist Urs Lüthi portrays the state of shame in a ruthless self-portrait, showing himself with a flushed, red face.



The exhibition examines both human and non-human crying and presents culture as a process of transformation: from one emotional state to another, from tears to laughter and back again.