Broken Collection
Exhibitions that connect cultures
From Japan to Austria: from 2020 to 2022, the porcelain and shard collection of Schloss Loosdorf was on show at museums in Tokyo, Nagoya, Yamaguchi and Arita. Since 2023, it has been researched, restored and artistically reimagined at the castle together with the University of Applied Arts Vienna.
2026
Completed x Contemporary
To conclude the research project of the University of Applied Arts Vienna, artworks are being exhibited at Schloss Loosdorf as the final “piece of the puzzle”.
The exhibitions of previous years focused on the restoration, conservation and historical research of the Broken Collection. This exhibition is devoted to art, with every single work having emerged from a dialogue with the shard room lasting several years.
2025
World Expo 2025 Osaka
Schloss Loosdorf was part of World Expo 2025 in Osaka. Selected Japanese objects from the porcelain and shard collection were digitised using state-of-the-art technology and displayed in a 3D Holobox in the Austrian Pavilion.
Exhibition
Beyond Fragmentation
The exhibition “Beyond Fragmentation” showed the first completed restoration and conservation work by students of the University of Applied Arts Vienna.
Using state-of-the-art techniques, objects from the porcelain and shard collection were reconstructed, and historic fabric wall coverings were analysed and conserved.
2023
Comeback for more
Since the end of 2022, the porcelain collection has been back at Schloss Loosdorf. In the years that followed, the University of Applied Arts Vienna looked after the collection at Schloss Loosdorf as part of the “Broken Collection” project. Among other things, the key themes of restoration, conservation and art history were examined and explored in greater depth.
The kick-off event took place at Schloss Loosdorf on 20 May 2023 and offered a first glimpse of the university’s project work.
Ö1 Leporello
Austrian radio station Ö1 reports on the history of the shard room and the porcelain collection of Schloss Loosdorf in connection with the “Broken Collection” project of the University of Applied Arts Vienna.
2020 to 2022
The Tragedy of Loosdorf Castle
On 4 November 2020, the exhibition “The Tragedy of Loosdorf Castle” opened at the Okura Museum of Art in Tokyo.
The exhibition tells the tragic story of the Piatti family’s porcelain collection. For the occasion, selected pieces were restored in Japan and displayed alongside the shards to striking effect.
The exhibition was also shown at the Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum near Nagoya, the Hagi Uragami Museum in Yamaguchi Prefecture and, finally, the Kyushu Ceramic Museum in Arita.
Since 2015
Reviving Old Imari Porcelain
In 2015, a Japanese university analysed the collection on site and officially confirmed it as Japanese cultural property.
Much of the collection was then restored in Japan by internationally renowned restorers, with the generous help of Ms Machiko Hoshina. One of the aims was for the shards, a legacy of war crimes, to find “peace” again through restoration in Japan, their country of origin.
Parts of the collection were presented during the “spouse programme” of the G20 summit in Osaka.
Okura Museum of Art, Tokyo
The Destruction and Rebirth of Exported Old-Imari
