Deutsches Historisches Museum - Verf�hrung Freiheit. Kunst in Europa seit 1945 - Blog

'I’ve been an intern here for six weeks now and applied for the exhibition project, because I liked the project idea. I also have a life outside of the DHM. I’m studying history and English Studies in Freiburg. I’m from Berlin and am trying to discover as much as I can about the city’s art and culture scene. That’s why I landed here.'

Q. What was the most exciting part of this internship?

A. ‘For one thing, the fact that I sometimes really did have contact with the artists, who are charming and funny and . . . unusual. Then there is the constant worrying about the artworks, which you just learned to love—and you suddenly discover that it’s unclear whether they will actually be shown, whether there is enough space, enough funding. That was nice, when I noticed that I had somehow become attached to the whole thing.'

Q. Then the next question fits quite well. Which object in the show fascinated you the most and why?

A. ‘I find the Lucio Fontana particularly beautiful. You have the feeling as if you are looking directly into space and if you could go beyond the edge of the picture you would immediately fly off into space. I find that optically or aesthetically totally fascinating. Then—from the idea side—there is the Touch and Tap Cinema by Valie Export. It is perhaps for many women an accessible work, but I find it particularly interesting how she plays with different genres. She touches, so to speak, on all of our senses: it has to do with feeling, seeing, hearing—she builds a box, calls it a cinema, and then she actually makes contact with the particular audience. Quite different than with sculpture, which can only be observed, or a film, which can only be viewed on a screen. Here it is one-on-one between the artist and the audience in a particularly disturbing way.’

Q. Which artist would you have like to have asked for an opinion?

A. 'An artist who I got to know through the catalogue and who now unfortunately will not be exhibited in Berlin is Martin Assig, who is represented in the catalogue with two houses. One is titled ‘House’ and then in parentheses ‘in this house I live’ and the second one is titled ‘House (sometime I will die forever)’. I don’t know much about the work, but it seems to me that he works with very natural, very basic materials. It is really just a little wood, a little bit of cotton, and some wax, which gives it a bit of home-made charm, and that immediately attracted me. I think I would like to ask him who he makes these houses for.'

Q. Who in the museum told the most exciting story and what was it?

A. ‘Well, Frau Flacke’s night on the Serbian border is of course legendary among the team, but I think it is the small stories instead, behind every art work, and to see that each person has a personal favourite in the exhibition and then it is suddenly unclear whether the piece can be shown and that’s when the arguing starts . . . so it is the everyday heroes, who have managed to get their chosen artwork into the exhibition. Those are my favourite stories.'

Q. What will younger people like the most?

A. ‘You start with the French Revolution and think, “Just great, Enlightenment, I know about that from history at school; I don’t need to do that again.” The fascinating part, though, is that it is actually the jumping off point leading directly to the subjects that are important to young people, such as environmental damage, criticism of consumerism, the questions about “how do I really want live? Where do I want to live and in what kind of surrounding? What am I looking for? . . . I think that this connection between very personal thoughts and larger and very politicised subjects is exciting in any case. And perhaps that will make it possible for people to access topics that they first thought were boring.'

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What we didn’t ask:

Whether she sometimes feels overworked.

Where is her work place at the DHM:

In our project office in the administration building behind the Zeughaus.

What is her favourite place in the museum:

I have to say that I like this large project room quite a lot, simply because it is so communicative, because we are constantly interacting, because there is lots of laughing, because you are aware of what the others are doing.

When does she feel the most free:

(Transcription: "While travelling with less than three kilos of luggage.")