WEBVTT 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:08.320 The exhibition "Roads not Taken 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:10.560 Or: It Could Have Been Different" 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:13.160 is dedicated to 14 caesuras in German history, 00:00:13.160 --> 00:00:16.440 namely of the 19th and 20th centuries. 00:00:16.440 --> 00:00:18.760 Based on a concept by Professor Dan Diner, 00:00:18.760 --> 00:00:20.720 we -the curatorial team- have staged 00:00:20.720 --> 00:00:25.160 14 possibilities of German history, 00:00:25.160 --> 00:00:30.840 always focusing strongly on one possibility 00:00:30.840 --> 00:00:33.640 that has been historically laid out. 00:00:33.640 --> 00:00:35.200 That doesn't always have to have been 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:36.840 the most probable possibility, 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:40.440 because there are, of course, usually several possibilities. 00:00:40.440 --> 00:00:43.840 But we think that sharpening the eye 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:46.840 for the fundamental openness of history 00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:48.520 is a vital point, 00:00:48.520 --> 00:00:51.520 in order to understand history fundamentally better. 00:00:52.480 --> 00:00:54.800 In order to grasp these spaces of possibility 00:00:54.800 --> 00:00:56.040 in the best possible way, 00:00:56.040 --> 00:00:59.280 you position yourself on the so-called View Points, 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:01.560 which allow an optimal view 00:01:01.560 --> 00:01:04.600 onto the 14 spaces of possibility. 00:01:04.600 --> 00:01:06.960 The exhibition goes backwards chronologically. 00:01:06.960 --> 00:01:11.280 We start off in the year 1989 and end in the year 1848. 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:14.000 This is meant to represent an element of alienation 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:16.320 in the exhibition. 00:01:16.320 --> 00:01:18.600 We have discovered that this element is actually 00:01:18.600 --> 00:01:21.560 being received quite well by the visitors. They start 00:01:21.560 --> 00:01:24.480 with a very familiar image, in this case 1989, 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:26.560 because you immediately feel like you are part of the exhibition. 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:29.760 But with this element of alienation, we also 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:31.800 want to pick up on the theme of the exhibition, 00:01:31.800 --> 00:01:35.280 namely that it doesn't work teleologically 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:38.320 like a chronological narrative starting in the 19th century 00:01:38.320 --> 00:01:41.520 and further and further moving towards the 20th century, 00:01:41.520 --> 00:01:43.720 where everything inevitably merges into one another, 00:01:43.720 --> 00:01:46.000 but the technique applied here is meant to 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:49.160 emphasize the openness of history. 00:01:49.160 --> 00:01:51.840 And the individual turning points 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:53.360 also work on their own. 00:01:53.360 --> 00:01:55.720 Meaning, each one is self-contained, 00:01:55.720 --> 00:01:58.440 they do not build on each other in that sense. 00:01:58.440 --> 00:02:02.160 The exhibition heavily utilizes quotations. 00:02:02.160 --> 00:02:04.920 And it is through these quotations 00:02:04.920 --> 00:02:07.120 you are being introduced to the “possibility-space”. 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:08.600 The exhibition is made in such a way 00:02:08.600 --> 00:02:10.640 that there is always a “possibility-space” 00:02:10.640 --> 00:02:12.480 and a “reality-space”, 00:02:12.480 --> 00:02:14.920 the “possibility-space” is staged 00:02:14.920 --> 00:02:18.560 to a large extent, colorfully designed, the images partially distorted 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:21.680 and just strongly staged in terms of design, 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:24.880 although we also work with original objects there. 00:02:24.880 --> 00:02:27.760 The opposite is the “reality-space”. 00:02:27.760 --> 00:02:30.240 Here, we also work with contemporary quotations, 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:32.920 but it is strictly museum-like, rather black and white, 00:02:32.920 --> 00:02:38.080 with black lines, almost overly museal, showing 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:41.280 how the past history has gone.