2027 marks the 250th anniversary of Heinrich von Kleist's birth. The Kleist-Museum Foundation, which runs the world's only museum dedicated to the important poet in Frankfurt (Oder), the city where he was born and studied, launched a Europe-wide competition at the beginning of 2024 to redesign the permanent exhibition, which is due to open in the anniversary year. Following an extensive selection process, the Hamburg-based agency Sunder-Plassmann & Werner Szenografie came out on top against 19 other applications.

Little recognised during his lifetime, Heinrich von Kleist (1777–1811) is today one of the most frequently performed and most important German-language playwrights and poets. To mark his 250th birthday in 2027, the foundation dedicated to him and his work is preparing a new permanent exhibition in the world's only Kleist-Museum in Frankfurt (Oder). A jury of experts from academia, the museum sector and representatives of the supporting institutions recently decided on the design agency:  Hamburg-based Sunder-Plassmann & Werner Szenografie impressed with its designs in the final round of the tender process, beating a total of 19 other applications. "Five agencies were invited to submit their ideas for the design of possible exhibition spaces," explains the curator of the new permanent exhibition, Milena Rolka. "We were very lucky to see very different perspectives on our topic, which made the selection process difficult. In the end, the designs made by the designers Johanna Sunder-Plassmann und Carlotta Wernereventually convinced us with their artistic approach which presents the content in a museum-like way and with high aesthetic standards, so that content and form are ideally combined. At the same time references to the present are drawn."

Sunder-Plassmann & Werner Szenografie develops spaces, installations and ideas for museums. The first museum project (since 2008), the Museum of Innocence by Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk in Istanbul, received the prestigious European Museum of the Year Award in 2014. Since then, the agency has realised exhibition projects for the Berlin City Museum Foundation, the Bavarian State Painting Collection, the Nuremberg City Museums and the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, among others.

In the coming years, intensive work will be carried out together with the curator on the direction of the new permanent exhibition. "We want to present new aspects of this contradictory poet," says Milena Rolka. "What approaches can we find to his work today? How can we convey Kleist as a person and his world of experience in our present day? We are now addressing these and other questions – on the basis of current research findings and our collections, which include original manuscripts by Kleist and an extensive collection of artworks from the GDR era relating to his life and work." In addition, the range of languages on offer is to be expanded, e.g. to include additional foreign languages and easy language, and a children's track is to be added. As well as focussing on new content, the permanent exhibition will increasingly take digital and technical developments into account. Accessibility also plays an important role. "People with impaired mobility, sight and hearing, as well as people with reading difficulties, should be able to enjoy our museum without any obstacles," continues Rolka.

History of the Kleist-Museum

The history of the museum's involvement with Heinrich von Kleist and his work began back in 1922, when the city of Frankfurt an der Oder set up a memorial room in the house where he was born. The building was destroyed by fire in April 1945. After the opening of the Kleist memorial in today's city library in 1953, it moved to the former garrison school (1777/78) on the Oderpromenade in 1968/69 as a Kleist memorial and research centre, which still houses the Kleist-Museum, Brandenburg's largest literature museum and a state foundation since 2019. On the 200th anniversary of Kleist's death in 2011, the ground-breaking ceremony for a light-flooded new building took place, which was opened in 2013 together with the current permanent exhibition "Puzzles. Conflicts. Fractures.", curated by Dr Barbara Gribnitz. In 2027, the history of this important Frankfurt cultural institution will be continued with a new permanent exhibition in the Kleist year.

2027 marks the 250th anniversary of Heinrich von Kleist's birth. The Kleist-Museum Foundation, which runs the world's only museum dedicated to the important poet in Frankfurt (Oder), the city where he was born and studied, has launched a Europe-wide competition to redesign the permanent exhibition, which is due to open in the anniversary year. Exhibition agencies have until 21 March 2024 to apply for this special project.

The history of the museum's involvement with Heinrich von Kleist and his work began back in 1922, when the city of Frankfurt an der Oder set up a memorial room in the house where he was born. The building was destroyed by fire in April 1945. After the opening of the Kleist memorial in today's city library in 1953, the Kleist memorial and research centre moved to the former garrison school (1777/78) on the Oderpromenade in 1968, which is still home to the Kleist-Museum, now a state foundation and the largest literature museum in Brandenburg. On the 200th anniversary of Kleist's death in 2011, the ground-breaking ceremony for a light-flooded new building took place, which was opened in 2013 together with the permanent exhibition "Puzzles. Conflicts. Fractures.", curated by Dr Barbara Gribnitz.

Requirements and plans

"Our current permanent exhibition is rightly very popular," says museum director and foundation director Anke Pätsch. "But in order to remain relevant, museums need to develop, open up to everyone and adapt exhibitions to current requirements. By redesigning the museum in the anniversary year 2027, we are increasing the focus on the museum and using the special occasion to fully meet new international standards and our statutory foundation mandate in our permanent exhibition."

At the centre of the Kleist-Museum Foundation's work is the museum's engagement with Heinrich von Kleist. "We want to present new aspects of this contradictory poet," says Milena Rolka, research assistant at the Kleist Museum and curator of the new permanent exhibition. "What approaches to his work can we find today? How can we convey Kleist as a person and his world of experience in our present day? We are now addressing these and other questions – on the basis of current research findings and our collections, which include original manuscripts by Kleist and an extensive collection of artworks from the GDR era relating to his life and work."

Furthermore, the range of languages on offer is to be expanded, e.g. to include additional foreign languages and easy language, and a children's track is to be added. As well as focussing on new content, the permanent exhibition will increasingly take digital and technical developments into account. Accessibility also plays an important role. "People with impaired mobility, sight and hearing as well as people with reading difficulties should be able to enjoy our museum without any obstacles," continues Rolka.