What does happiness mean to us? How do we find love? How do we want to live? Big questions for us today, which also moved the student Heinrich von Kleist in Frankfurt on the Oder around 1800. The exhibition begins with his search for a life plan.
An original letter from Kleist’s fiancée Wilhelmine von Zenge broadens the perspective: How did she imagine an ideal partner? How did expectations of women and men
differ in relationships at the time?
But it wasn’t just Prussian aristocrats who lived in the Oderstadt: we also explore the diversity of society at the time. What do we know about Jewish, Polish and Huguenot lifestyles in old Frankfurt? What traces of early colonialism can we find in the fair city?
“To be happy,
that is the first of all our wishes, [...]
which accompanies us through the whole course
of our lives.”
Heinrich von Kleist
We and Kleist? The exhibition takes us from then to now: artists open up critical perspectives on the themes of love, life and happiness. Photographs and comics can be seen, spoken word poetry can be heard; city dwellers share their voices with us. At interactive stations and in the accompanying program, we invite you to creatively enrich the exhibition: Tell us your opinion about happiness, write yourself or someone else a love letter, and complement the exhibition with your own comics in workshops!
Involved
Curation: Joanna Krzemińska, Adrian Robanus
Design: Collective Plus X, Halle
Participants: Roman Boichuk, Viktor Bor, Jule Born, Karolina Chyżewska, Ilknur Koçer, Uta Kurzwelly, Burcu Türker, Ken Yamamoto
Supported by the program “360° - Fund for Cultures of the New Urban Society” of the German Federal Cultural Foundation
How do young people think about Heinrich von Kleist in times of the Ukraine war, the climate crisis and the devastating earthquake in the Turkish-Syrian border region?
21 students of painting at weißensee kunsthochschule berlin have explored Kleist's works under the keyword 'betrayal'. Picking up motifs from his texts associatively, they created works from very different perspectives and in various techniques or media.
The newly created works will be presented for the first time in the Kleist Museum. The seminar was led by Professor Nader Ahriman and the artists Helen Feifel and Julia Herfurth.
Participating artists
Imad Alfil, Elisa Bosse, Viola Del Monte, Alanna Dongowski, Anna Eigner, Marieke Herbst, Cora Jarchow, Kim Käsermann, Luka Keresman, Jung A Lee, Tara Mianji, Elena Mir Fakhraei, Janine Muckermann, Ioana Pirlea, Manuel Resch, Aliia Sakisheva, Jenna Seedorf, Johannes Seluga, Friederike Toeppe, Allistair Walter, Delphine Wigger
Heinrich von Kleist's "Berliner Abendblätter" were one of the first daily newspapers in the German-speaking world at the time and a real sensation: they blurred the boundaries between journalism and literature. The printed police reports covered crime cases from the neighbourhood - an absolute novelty at the time - and the story of the "murder-burner gang" in particular was effectively presented in extra pages.
The exhibition takes visitors through the history of the newspaper, illuminates the network of well-known personalities who contributed to the "Abendblätter", the strategies Kleist used and the censorship-related end of his last newspaper project. Visitors are invited to immerse themselves in the world of the "Abendblätter". What curious and interesting stories are still hidden in the newspaper that appeared between October 1810 and March 1811? In the background, always the questions: How do we perceive media and journalism today and to what extent was Kleist a pioneer?
A varied accompanying programme in Frankfurt and Berlin with guided tours, discussions, walks and much more offers in-depth insights into journalistic work around 1800 and today.
Involved
Curation: Viviane Jasmin Meierdreeß
Design: Studio Neue Museen, Halle
Loans: Otto-Lilienthal-Museum Anklam and Bodmer Fondation
Funding: Sparkasse Oder-Spree