Disparate Precedents of Display – A footnote – Teresa Häußler

The project addresses the political dimensions of exhibition design, leading through two exhibitions designed by architect Egon Eiermann. It explores the entanglement of design and politics, National Socialism and forms of representation.

Disparate Precedents of Display looks at the way space affects visitors, exposing exhibition design as a genuinely political practice, building on and inheriting from the past – from past exhibitions, influential exhibition designers and conventions of display rooted in disparate political systems.

Two exhibitions, commissioned by the German state, serve as case studies. “Gebt mir vier Jahre Zeit” was a National Socialist propaganda show staged in Berlin in 1937. It celebrated the transformation of all sectors of society under National Socialist rule since the implementation of Adolf Hitlers 4-year-plan. Twenty-one years later, the Federal Republic of Germany commissioned the same architect to design the German Pavilion at the Expo ‘58 in Brussels. At the World‘s Fair the young successor state had its first opportunity to present the cultural, economic and political parameters of a now democratic Germany on an international scale. Both shows can be described as representations of state power and political narratives – one in the name of war and one in the name of humanity. Significant contributor to both exhibitions was Egon Eiermann in his role as exhibition architect.

Performance: Anna K. Seidel
Outside Eye: Caroline Kapp, Manon Haase
Graphic Design: Mona Mayer
Single line font EE_7475: Barbara Acevedo Strange, Moritz Appich
Coding: Frank Bublitz
Voice: Liv Rahel Schwenk
Recording: Florian Wulff
Video documentation: Mustafa Emin Büyükcoşkun
Photography: Lizzy Ellbrück
Editorial support: Joyce Moore
Copyediting: George MacBeth

Special Thanks to
Céline Condorelli, Hanne König, Sami Khatib, Lioudmila Voropai, Julian Warner, Thomas Rustemeyer, Constanze Fischbeck, Susanne Kriemann, Hans D. Christ und Iris Dressler, Judith Milz, Christian Becker (Stadtarchiv Oranienburg), Mechthild Ebert (saai), Janina Capelle, Lydia Kähny, Daniel Lythgoe, Tjark Schönfeld, Alexander Knoppik, Lena Breitmoser, Sören Göbel, Jule Köpke, Arthur Schuman, Jana Barthel and Danny Klein.

Sponsored by
Fonds Darstellende Künste (Rechercheförderung)
Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Baden Württemberg