AGE ART - Science meets art
Painting as an elixir of life
The recipe for a long, healthy life: Curiosity, drive and creativity
Take groundbreaking science and great art, combine it into one event and the result is a successful and unusual evening that informs, touches, stimulates and opens new perspectives.
Under the motto "Painting as an Elixir of Life," the third AGE ART event of the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in cooperation with the Museum Ludwig in Cologne took place on June 7, 2018. The event began with introductory remarks by Max Planck Director Adam Antebi and an insightful opening speech by Dr. Stephan Diederich, Curator of Modern Art from Museum Ludwig, in which he introduced the audience to the creative work of Bernard Schultze and his contemporaries. The highlight of the evening was the lecture by Prof. Dr. h.c. Christian Haass of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, in which he logically linked findings from Alzheimer's research with his passion for collecting art.
Mr. Haass, who has dedicated himself to Alzheimer's research for 30 years, presented the advances from science in a generally understandable way and illustrated his explanations of this serious disease with paintings by diseased artists to allow a visual and direct insight into the perception of people suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
In addition, he also referred to the exhibition of artworks by Hans Hartung, Karl Otto Götz and Bernard Schultze, which had been carefully put together by Dr. Diederich especially for this evening. These artists are among the leading representatives of expressive abstraction in Europe, and have succeeded in continuing their professional passion into old age, gaining from it energy, happiness and joie de vivre for their retirement.
Due to his passion for collecting art and his professional passion for researching neurodegenerative diseases, Prof. Haass succeeded in inspiring the audience in an authentic, personal and rousing way both for the exhibited art of the evening and for aging research. Furthermore, he succeeded in conveying the message that despite groundbreaking advances in research, curiosity, drive and creativity are essential ingredients for a long, healthy and happy life.
by Helen Antebi
