The international participants–academics, artists and curators–will explore this charged material and share their research as well as experiences on the use of natural and animal dyes in contemporary art in general and on purple (snails) in particular.
In order to deepen the discussion, past and present of the zoological institution will be investigated in order to gain insights into the cultural and historical role of murex snails, also in ancient art in the Gulf of Naples. Sea snails had been used to obtain a pigment known as Tyrian purple, traces of which can already be found in the frescos of Pompeii. Visits to the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn and the Museo di Capodimonte will be part of the program.
Secrets and Secrations
Secrets and Secrations: On Sigmar Polke, Purple Snails, and the Gulf of Naples
The starting point of this two-day interdisciplinary workshop, held at the Goethe-Institut Naples, is Sigmar Polke's very own interest in purple: A visit to the Zoological Station in Naples in 1986, led him to extract the dye for the Purpurtuch (Purple Cloth) shown in the Athanor installation himself.
Please find the workshop schedule here.
Participants and Contributions:
Violaine Barrois (artist), Southern France
Invasive Purple: Pigment and Material Futures of Rapana venosa
Kathrin Barutzki (art historian and curator), Cologne
Athanor, 1986: Polke, Purple Snails and the Transformation of Matter
Inge Boesken Kanold (artist and purple researcher), Southern France
Purpurissum, Film Screening and Artist Talk
Maria Laura Chiacchio (Curator of 20th and 21st Century Art, Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte), Naples
Guided Tour: Museo di Capodimonte’s Collections
Christiane Groeben (Chair SZN, Archivio Storico - CAPE Department), Naples
Guided Tour: Frescoes by Hans von Marées
Susanne Kridlo (biologist and curator), Wiesbaden
Purple: A Glimpse into 3,000 Years of History
Andrea Travaglini (archivist SZN, Archivio Storico - CAPE Department), Naples
The History of the Stazione Zoologica through Sources from the Archive
Elsa Wellmann-Gilcher (art historian), Cologne
“Die Sonne steht wie auf Schwarzem Berg”: On Sigmar Polke’s Italian Journeys
Müge Yilmaz (artist), Amsterdam
On the Spectrum of the Invisible
Concept:
Kathrin Barutzki (Anna Polke Foundation) and Petra Lange-Berndt (Department of History of Art, University of Hamburg)
Organizers:
Kathrin Barutzki and Elsa Wellmann-Gilcher (Anna Polke Foundation)
Secrets and Secrations: On Sigmar Polke, Purple Snails, and the Gulf of Naples
International Workshop, 17 and 18 June 2026, Goethe-Institut, Naples
The number of participants is limited. Please register by email at mail@anna-polke-stiftung.com by 10 June 2026.