Coming to theatres today, Friday, April 24: THE GREAT MUSEUM
Johannes Holzhausen’s insider tour of one of Austria’s finest art institutions debuted at Berlin last year. It has gone on to screen extensively, including berths at San Francisco, Seattle, Sydney, New Zealand, Los Angeles, Jerusalem, London, IDFA, CPH:DOX, Biografilm, Reykjavik, Vancouver, and the Hamptons.
Part of a recent spate of nonfiction focused on museums, which includes sprawling multi-hour works like Frederick Wiseman’s NATIONAL GALLERY, Oeke Hoogendijk’s THE NEW RIJKSMUSEUM, and the omnibus CATHEDRALS OF CULTURE series, Holzhausen’s more contained foray into institutional operations focuses on Vienna’s impressive Kunsthistorisches Museum, established by the legendary Hapsburgs in 1891. As cleverly revealed in its opening sequence, which tours through the massive interior of the spectacular building until it follows a workman into a grand hall where he abruptly begins tearing up the floor, the film’s throughline is the renovation and reinstallation of the museum’s Kunstkammer galleries. Beyond this undertaking, the museum staff’s daily routines are observed, from investigating potential insect damage to old canvases and repairing timeworn artifacts to thanking donors for bequeathing a cherished family heirloom of historical significance to holding a staff meeting which, in a pleasantly awkward moment, reveals levels of hierarchy between curatorial and service staff. Holzhausen brings an informed art historian’s eye to his camera’s unobtrusive wanderings around the museum, but also has a knack for capturing these human moments among the grandeur, making for both an enlightening and relatable look at this rarified institution.`
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