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January 16, 2025 – Review
“Admired, collected, and put on display”
Kenny Fries
Many museum exhibitions—and re-hangings of permanent collections—have in recent years aimed to address legacies of colonialism, as well as outdated and oppressive gender and sexual “norms.” Sometimes these shows incorporate contemporary art in response to historical work now viewed as pejorative or oppressive. Too often forgotten in these re-visions of art/history is the stereotypically dehumanizing representation of disability and disabled persons. “Admired, collected, and put on display,” in the Baroque treasury of the Dresden Residenzschloss, attempts to rectify this glaring omission by employing the work of contemporary disabled artists to provide critical context to such royal collections, as well as to render more fully the history of disability representation.
This curatorial goal is crucial yet its enactment is problematic, often re-inscribing this dehumanizing history. Attempts are made to mobilize the contemporary art to demythologize disability, but the historical works and what they promulgate dominate contemporary pieces by Eric Beier Eva Jünger, Steven Solbrig, and Dirk Sorge, which are placed mostly outside the small exhibition room or, in the case of Beier’s work, used more as a structural crutch rather than integrated critique.
Floor guides provide access for visitors who are blind or have low vision. But in the spacious covered …