The second presentation in Haus der Kunst's Archive Gallery focuses on interventions in the building's architecture and treatments of its facade. With Résistance by Christian Boltanski (1993–94) and Gustav Metzger's Travertine/Judenpech (1999), Haus der Kunst reanimates the first two artistic interventions created specifically for the facade and portico of the National Socialist building, which opened in 1937.
The art of Christian Boltanski, who was born in Paris in 1944, is marked by the memory of the Holocaust and the reconstruction of his own past. 1993/94 he created Résistance, mounted on Haus der Kunst's south facade; the installation consisted of posters depicting pairs of eyes of former members of the anti-fascist resistance group "Rote Kapelle". Résistance was part of the group exhibition "Resistance – Thought Pictures for the Future", which was jointly developed by Staatsgalerie moderner Kunst and Haus der Kunst, and with which the two institutions took a stand against growing nationalist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic tendencies.
The photographs of Boltanski's installation were taken in 1942 and 1943 after more than 100 members of the resistance group were arrested. Based on his awareness of the significance of the former "Haus der Deutschen Kunst" [House of German Art], Boltanski confronted visitors with the memory of people who opposed the National Socialist regime and thereby exposed themselves to constant danger. The building's Neoclassical facade suddenly seemed to consist of hundreds of pairs of eyes – a warning to today's society not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
The interventions of Christian Boltanski and Gustav Metzger on the building's south facade can also be visited outside of regular opening hours.
