Kleist: Crisis and experiment – Double exhibition in Berlin and Frankfurt (Oder)

Heinrich von Kleist, a personality, playwright and storyteller who held extreme positions, remained largely understood by his contemporaries. After being involved in hefty political and societal upheavals in Germany around the turn of the century in 1800, Kleist developed from his experience with permanent crises ideas and changing life plans that were highly unusual for his time. For example, following his seven-year period in the military, he constantly reinvented himself as a scholar, public servant, father, peasant, book trader or editor. Success as an author was, however, something he never experienced during his lifetime, while his works have a distinctly modern character today.

The 200^th anniversary of Kleist’s death on 21 November, 2011 provided a welcome impulse to discuss the relationship between crisis, critique and reform ideas back then and today. At the heart of this exploration was the double exhibition titled Kleist: Crisis and Experiment, which could be seen simultaneously in Berlin’s Ephraim-Palais/Stadtmuseum Berlin and in the Kleist Museum in Frankfurt (Oder). Kleist’s texts, above all his letters, guided visitors through the exhibition as a multi-voiced acoustic leitmotiv. Each individual room was presented like an individual stage production that deliberately echoed the temporary world of theatre. The deliberately unstable and light language of form visually reflected Kleist’s inconstant spirit and lent him a contemporary face. This modern interpretation of Kleist was complemented in the exhibition’s thematic rooms by a comprehensive fringe programme with very different scientific and artistic contributions.