Vernissage: Für Suzanne & Rudolf

03.01.2026 | Dresden

With Für Suzanne & Rudolf, Jean Kirsten turns his attention to a largely overlooked yet pivotal moment in Dresden’s cultural and dance history: the first encounter between Suzanne Perrottet and Rudolf Laban in the spring of 1912 during a stay at the Lahmann Sanatorium on the Weißen Hirsch. Marked by immediate artistic affinity, this meeting initiated a creative partnership that would generate fundamental impulses for the development of European expressive dance.

The exhibition comprises an installation, objects, and paintings, creating a bridge between historical research and contemporary artistic reflection. Kirsten understands this moment not merely as a biographical anecdote, but as an initial spark for a cultural movement that profoundly shaped the twentieth century and is now recognized by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. Despite its significance, there is still no place in Dresden that commemorates this beginning and its particular sense of enchantment. Für Suzanne & Rudolf seeks to address this absence of remembrance.

The opening on January 3, 2026 at 4 pm will feature a laudatory address by Dr. Teresa Ende. A dance and music performance by Francesca Mommo accompanies the vernissage, translating the historical context into a poetic, embodied presence in the here and now.

Artist: Jean Kirsten
Location: Chinesischer Pavillon zu Dresden e.V.

With contributions by:
Laudatory address: Dr. Teresa Ende
Dance and Handpan Music: Francesca Mommo
Piano: Monan von Jülich, Gabriel Husson
Reading: Gabrielle Louise Kaul
Video: Leo Naomi Baur