WEBVTT

00:00:01.240 --> 00:00:04.600
Our exhibition is called
What is Enlightenment?

00:00:04.680 --> 00:00:07.680
Questions for the 18th Century.

00:00:07.800 --> 00:00:11.280
Creating an exhibition
about a philosophical theme

00:00:11.720 --> 00:00:14.720
is somewhat like
squaring the circle.

00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:16.800
A challenge.

00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:24.640
And I’m glad that here at the
German Historical Museum we succeeded

00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:27.480
in making philosophical questions,
historical questions,

00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:31.280
and socially important questions

00:00:31.840 --> 00:00:35.120
tangible through objects.

00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:39.960
The exhibition itself has individual
so-called chapters.

00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:42.640
We begin with science.

00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:46.440
We have religion, pedagogy,
the question of equality.

00:00:46.800 --> 00:00:49.800
The design of the exhibition is
set up in such a way

00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:53.680
that there are sightlines
that allow you to look from one chapter

00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:57.800
into the next and make connections.

00:00:58.280 --> 00:01:01.000
We don’t think of a logical sequence,

00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:04.920
of a causal order,
but of constellations.

00:01:05.360 --> 00:01:10.320
And the object that guides us
is the kaleidoscope.

00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:15.080
Images keep changing
with the same elements.

00:01:15.160 --> 00:01:18.880
And so, we answer the question
“What is Enlightenment?”

00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:23.280
not with one answer,
but with more questions.

00:01:23.800 --> 00:01:26.960
These questions are more specific and smaller.

00:01:27.440 --> 00:01:29.520
What does pedagogy look like?

00:01:29.520 --> 00:01:31.640
What does new science look like?

00:01:31.640 --> 00:01:34.640
What does it mean
to demand equality?

00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:37.640
What does it mean to demand emancipation?

00:01:37.720 --> 00:01:40.680
We have, for example, Thomas Jefferson,

00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:44.920
who wrote the Declaration of Independence
of the United States,

00:01:44.920 --> 00:01:47.760
where he states, “All men are created equal.”

00:01:48.080 --> 00:01:51.080
But the same Jefferson owned slaves.

00:01:51.240 --> 00:01:55.080
And so, we have hung above this Declaration

00:01:55.440 --> 00:01:59.760
a document that shows how many and which slaves

00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:04.200
he owned at that time
on his estate, Monticello.

00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:06.360
And this kind of

00:02:07.600 --> 00:02:09.280
inconsistent implementation and

00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:12.760
contradictions
we try to show throughout,

00:02:12.760 --> 00:02:17.400
to encourage visitors to reflect and consider:

00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:21.440
Yes, if they couldn’t achieve
the demands in the 18th century,

00:02:21.440 --> 00:02:23.160
how can we do it today?

00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:26.360
To that end, we went beyond

00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:33.520
objects in the exhibition and conducted interviews

00:02:33.720 --> 00:02:37.480
with figures
from science, philosophy,

00:02:37.480 --> 00:02:42.200
and public life, asking them,
What does Enlightenment mean to them?

00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:47.040
How do these concepts
and ideas enter into their work,

00:02:47.040 --> 00:02:51.200
and how do they see
the progress in the future?