Exhibitions

Nietzsche – Weimar – GDR. Two Italians Discover the Real Nietzsche

Exhibition at the Nietzsche-Archiv | 7 May 2022 – 1 November 2022 & 21 March 2023 – 27 March 2023

This temporary exhibition portrays the achievements of the Italian-born German Studies scholar Mazzino Montinari, who worked in Weimar in the 1960s. While he and his professor Giorgio Golli were retranslating Nietzsche’s writings, they stumbled across numerous alterations and forgeries, for which Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche and her research assistants at the Nietzsche-Archiv were responsible. Over several years, the two Italian scholars produced a critical edition of the famous philosopher’s works and estate which is still considered the standard reference work today. After 1964, they published the new edition in Italy, France and West Germany. In former East Germany (GDR), however, many were suspicious of Nietzsche’s legacy as his philosophy was often misappropriated by the National Socialists. The exhibition examines the circumstances under which the Italians were able to produce the edition. A presentation of photos and documents will be supplemented by an audio station which highlights a selected forgery and how it was corrected.

Translation as Dispute – Books on Tour

Exhibition at the Study Centre of the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek (HAAB) | 4 June 2022 – 18 January 2023

The presentation takes us on a tour of the HAAB collections, through the centuries and the history of translation. With Martin Luther’s new translations, the Bible was reinvented as a new book. It became a weapon in religious disputes, spawned competition and generated new points of view. This is substantiated by the 16^th-century illustrations contained in Weimar’s Bible Collection. In the 17^th and 18^th century, books assumed a more mobile format as exemplified by a historical travel library anno 1800, which you can discover for yourself in the open-access shelves. The presentation at the Study Centre will be supplemented by volumes from the Herder Church library on display at the Historic Library (HAAB) and in public tours of the “Treasures of the Weimar Bible Collection”.

Germany’s First Writer

Exhibition at the Wieland Estate in Ossmannstedt | since 3 September 2022

A new, innovative exhibition concept in the historic living quarters of the Wieland Estate portrays Christoph Martin Wieland as a novelist, chronicler of the French Revolution and translator. Additional exhibition space in the historic residence, the interplay with the romantic park and the Wieland gravesite on the Ilm River, and other detailed information and media are sure to make Ossmannstedt an exciting new experience for all friends of Weimar Classicism.

Translating the World. Contemporary Perspectives on Walter Benjamin

Exhibitions at the Bauhaus Museum Weimar | 12 March – 31 October 2022

• Part 1: Esther Shalev-Gerz: “Inseparable Angels. An Imaginary House for Walter Benjamin” 12 March to 16 May 2022
• Part 2: Ori Gersht: “Evaders” 11 June to 1 August 2022
• Part 3: Aura Rosenberg: “Angel of History” 27 August to 31 October 2022

As part of the Theme Year 2022 on “Language”, the Bauhaus Museum Weimar will present three successive installations by Esther Shalev-Gerz, Ori Gersht und Aura Rosenberg which explore the overlap of images and the written word in time and space. All three share a common thread, namely, they all shed light on the relationship between language and imagery. This relationship is staged in various ways using objects, photographs, projections, animated films, and written and spoken texts of all kinds. All three artists draw their inspiration from Walter Benjamin’s famous 9th historical thesis which he wrote while fleeing from the Nazis in 1939.