Social drinking has always been a way to network, exchange information or bond. The ancient Greek established a refined and socially-acceptable form of drinking party - the symposium. The Teutons, however, were infamous for their heavy drinking and bad manners. Their pleasure-loving carousing was regarded as typical male behaviour, the expression of a free man and his physical, social and mental power.
16 th century drinking games featured bizarre trick vessels that allowed participants to escape from their highly regulated lives. The ruling classes demonstrated their wealth as well as their self-assurance and pride in their elevated social status. At the same time these cheerfully and sometimes frivoluos games helped to relieve boredom. Drinking games tested a guest’s skills and reactions or made him the victim of crude pranks. During the Renaissance and the Age of Humanism the study of classical texts led to the rediscovery of ancient rites celebrated in honor of the god of wine - Dionysos/Bacchus. The exhibition presented over 100 objects from different collections and thus illustrated the cultural history of wine. At banquets and symposia it was offered to guests in precious cups and ewers. Craftsmen throughout the ages produced magnificent drinking and serving vessels; these innovative artists made cups from gold, ceramics or elaborately decorated glass, designed unusual shapes.
However, anyone, who drinks too much breaks rules and transcends borders. Animated by excessive drinking, persons assume new rules, live out their animal desires, succumb their sexual impulses - and no-one, wether man or woman, old or young is immune. Making someone drunk helps to manipulate him and to win wars, and whole people owe their existence to drunken love making. Laws were passed to attempt to control these excesses, and superstition and magic have been used in the battle against the ill effects of wine. But Bacchus always triumphs. Bacchanalia comprise music and ecstasy, dancing and madness, happiness and inebriation, love and lust, and even the god of wine himself succumbs to drunken desires.
So, the story of "responsible drinking" is a very long one...;-)
(text taken partly from the folder of the exhibition)
