I’m not thinking, I’m only saying it. Ödön von Horváth and the Theatre March 15, 2018 - February 11, 2019
Lobkowitzplatz 2, 1010 Wien [email protected] T +43 1 525 24 5315
About the Exhibition
Ödon von Horváth saw himself as a “chronicler of his time” and continually worked to “unmask consciousness” through literature. His brilliant dialogues reveal how closely eroticism, economics and politics are intertwined – connections and entanglements that still exist today.
His deep understanding of petit-bourgeois language, which he trenchantly called “educated jargon” (Bildungsjargon), his concise critique of language, and his “crazy sentences” (irre Sätze; Peter Handke) deeply informed post-1945 German literature. Authors like for instance Peter Handke, Peter Turrini, Wolfgang Bauer, Franz Xaver Kroetz, Werner Schwab, Elfriede Jelinek, Felix Mitterer, Dea Loher and René Pollesch are clearly to be recognized as followers in Horváth‘s dramatic tradition. Ödön von Horváth died 80 years ago in Paris at the age of 36.
Today, Ödön von Horváth is one of the most frequently performed German speaking authors; his contemporaries already celebrated his plays Italian Night, Tales from the Vienna Woods (both 1931) and Kasimir and Karoline (1932) as a renewal of the traditional folk play. In his dramas Horváth focuses on the petit bourgeoisie and its social, political and economic parameters, which he depicts critically but not without empathy.
Over and over again he tried to observe the social structures from “the woman‘s point of view” and hence created his famous “Fräulein” characters, like for instance Marianne, Karoline and Elisabeth. With his plays Sladek, the black soldier of the Reichswehr (1929) and Italian Night (1931) he explicitly positioned himself in opposition to the emerging National Socialism and threat of the still young Weimar Republic. After being awarded the prestigious Kleist Prize he became a target of Nazi assaults. The Nazi‘s rise to power in Germany meant the sudden end for his young and promising carreer. His plays were discontinued, planned premieres cancelled, with the result that he found himself forced to work as scriptwriter for the German Reich movie industry. The experiences he won during these activities led to his radical and final withdrawal from the German Reich under the Nazi regime and intensified his contacts to exiled authors like Carl Zuckmayer and Franz Theodor Csokor. With plays like Mit dem Kopf durch die Wand (1935), Figaro gets a divorce and Don Juan‘s return from war (both 1936) he repositioned himself as writer, his novels The Age of the Fish (1937) and A Child of our Time (1938) established him as a pronounced anti-facsist author. Especially The Age of the Fish belongs still today to the canon of German speaking literature and is a classic in school literature.
The exhibition is organised along three seminal plays, each of which is given its own gallery, which also focuses on a broader topic: economics, eroticism, and politics respectively. In addition, we look at the genesis and reception of Horváth’s plays. I’m not thinking, I’m only saying it. Ödön von Horváth and the Theatre March 15, 2018 - February 11, 2019
Lobkowitzplatz 2, 1010 Wien [email protected] T +43 1 525 24 5315
About the Exhibition - continued
The entrance hall presents the author’s biography and essential aspects of his oeuvre such as death and “silence”, the User’s Manual, and the author’s work method.
Strolling past the tobacconist, we enter the gallery dedicated to the Tales from the Vienna Woods, whose topic is economics. Oscar’s “trustworthy butcher’s shop” showcases different aspects of the “Quiet Street”, among them the lower middle class and its economic and political condition, women as a commodity and, analogously, men as butchers, and Horváth’s treatment of the Vienna cliché.
We then move from the “Quiet Street” to the “Wiesn”, the large open space in Munich where the annual Oktoberfest is held, to Kasimir and Karoline and the eroticism that is omnipresent in Horváth’s work. As though we were on a fairground, we stroll past booths and venues like the Temple of Venus, bumper cars, and the Panorama. The main focus is on the connection between eroticism and economics. The gallery ends in a reflection on the various aspects of the relationship between the sexes in Horváth’s work. Here we present images of women and of men, but also of different forms of contemporary relationships.
Using Italian Night as a starting point, the third gallery looks at the importance of politics in Ödön von Horváth’s oeuvre and biography. We enter the saloon of an inn after a brawl between opposing political groups, like the one Horváth presciently described in Italian Night and which he himself witnessed at Murnau. We not only reconstruct the political climate of the Weimar Republic, but also analyse Horváth’s connections to the Nazi regime and his total repudiation (purification) of their ideology in his later, pacifist and anti-fascist novels The Age of the Fish (1937) and A Child of our Time (1938).
This elaboratedly designed exhibition at the Theatermuseum demonstrates the political substance and explosive relevance of Horváth’s plays with versatile objects, documents, audio- and video samples from the museum‘s own collections and 40 national and international institutions as well as private lenders. The show was curated by Nicole Streitler-Kastberger and Martin Vejvar and designed by Peter Karlhuber.
Besides the exhibition the project comprises a catalogue, a diverse events programme with numerous cooperating partners and an educational offer especially for pupils and students. I’m not thinking, I’m only saying it. Ödön von Horváth and the Theatre March 15, 2018 - February 11, 2019
Lobkowitzplatz 2, 1010 Wien [email protected] T +43 1 525 24 5315
About the Exhibition - continued
NICOLE STREITLER-KASTBERGER is literary scientist, critic and author. Since 2005 she is scientific associate of the Viennese edition of Horváth‘s complete works. Latest appearance: Getrennte Welten. Novel (Weitra: Verlag Bibliothek der Provinz 2013); together with Erwin Gartner (Editor): Ödön von Horváth: Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald (Berlin: de Gruyter 2015); Millennium, Lyrik und Prosa (Weitra: Verlag Bibliothek der Provinz 2016); (Editor): Ödön von Horváth: Sladek. Italienische Nacht (Berlin: de Gruyter 2016).
MARTIN VEJVAR is scientific associate of the Viennese edition of Horváth‘s complete works since 2008; Editor of several volumes; latest appearance: Ödön von Horváth: Sportmärchen, Kurzprosa und Werkprojekte Prosa. Edited by Martin Vejvar. (Berlin [u.a.]: de Gruyter 2017).
PETER KARLHUBER is stage and exhibition designer. For the Theatermuseum he already produced the presentations “Arthur Schnitzler – Affairen und Affekte“, 2006; “Österreich selbst ist nichts als eine Bühne – Thomas Bernhard und das Theater“, 2009; “Die Arbeit des Zuschauers – Peter Handke und das Theater!, 2013 and “Wir brauchen einen ganz anderen Mut! Stefan Zweig – Abschied von Europa“, 2014. Lately he was responsible for the new presentation of the Beethoven Museum in Heiligenstadt. I’m not thinking, I’m only saying it. Ödön von Horváth and the Theatre March 15, 2018 - February 11, 2019
Lobkowitzplatz 2, 1010 Wien [email protected] T +43 1 525 24 5315
Events
„REIF FÜR DIE SINTFLUT” / “READY FOR THE FLASH FLOOD” – Kultur-Café The tour of the exhibition and its powerful visual effects will give you a detailed understanding of Horváths plays. The bleak cold of the butcher‘s shop means no good endings, the fairground‘s merry atmosphere does not fulfil the desire for happiness, the demolished tavern tables bear testimony of the brutality of political escalation. After coffee and cake, Ernst Tauchner reads texts by and about Ödön von Horváth. Thu, 3–5 PM, April 5, April 26, May 17, September 13, October 11, November 22, 2018; January 17, 2019 Adults € 15, Students and annual ticket holders € 12 Reservation recommended! T +43 1 52524 5310
THEATER AND POLITICS – HORVÁTH, BRECHT AND NOWADAYS Reading: Christiane von Poelnitz; Panel discussion with Klaus Kastberger, Monika Meister; requested: Stefanie Carp, Frank Castorf Wed, April 18, 7.30 PM, free entry
„ICH HÄTTE GERNE EINE ZUKUNFT” / “I WOULD LOVE HAVING A FUTURE” They are all dancers in a disastrous waltz of death; all of them searching for the „bright prospects“. Popular theatre not folkloric at all. With students of Institut angewandtes Theater (IFANT), directed by Claudia Bühlmann, Friedhelm Roth-Lange Sat, September 1, 3 PM and Sun, September 2, 11 AM and 3 PM Adults € 12, Students and pupils € 8 Reservations: [email protected]
„ALLE NEGER SIND HINTERLISTIG, FEIG UND FAUL – SIE DÜRFEN MICH NICHT FALSCH VERSTEHEN.” “ALL NIGGERS ARE DECEITFUL, HAVE NO GUTS AND ARE LAZY – DON‘T GET ME WRONG.” Nicholas Ofczarek confronts phrases, platitudes, dialogues and casualty reports of Horváths charac- ters with present-day political and digital statements. Lorenz Raab: trumpet; Christof Dienz: electronic zither Wed, September 19, 7.30 PM Adults € 22, Students € 12 Reservations under T +43 1 52524 3460 I’m not thinking, I’m only saying it. Ödön von Horváth and the Theatre March 15, 2018 - February 11, 2019
Lobkowitzplatz 2, 1010 Wien [email protected] T +43 1 525 24 5315
Events
COLLABORATION – „WIR KENNEN SICH AUS” / “WE KNOW IT ALL” Karl Ferdinand Kratzl & Peter Ahorner: words Karl Stirner & Walther Soyka: instruments Wed, October 10, 7.30 PM, Adults € 22, Students € 12 Reservations under T +43 1 52524 3460
„DU WIRST MEINER LIEBE NICHT ENTGEHEN” / “YOU WON‘T ESCAPE MY LOVE” With Birgit Minichmayr. Music: Oskar Aichinger (composition), Thomas Berghammer, Karl Sayer, Paul Skrepek Wed, November 7, 7.30 PM, Adults € 22, Students € 12 Reservations under T +43 1 52524 3460
„ICH FREU MICH ÜBER MEINE GEDANKEN, SELBST WENN SIE WÜSTEN ENTDECKEN” / “I ENJOY MY THOUGHTS, EVEN IF THEY DISCOVER DESERTS” Activity tour for school classes, grades 8 to 13, 1,5 hrs It‘s exciting getting to know Ödön von Horváth more closely. Texts like The Age of the Fish describe how young people devote themselves to extreme ideologies and become radicalised, plays as Tales from the Vienna Woods get rid of the myth of harmless cosiness. By means of historic mood pictures, excerpts from his plays, objects and quotations we cannot escape Horváth‘s current relevance. The students will leave with a head full of thoughts and discover that he is “A Child of our Time“. Dates upon appointment, T +43 1 52524 5310 or [email protected]
EXHIBITION TOURS ON DEMAND T +43 1 525 24 5310 or [email protected]. For our educational programs please refer to www.theatermuseum.at/kulturvermittlung I’m not thinking, I’m only saying it. Ödön von Horváth and the Theatre March 15, 2018 - February 11, 2019
Lobkowitzplatz 2, 1010 Wien [email protected] T +43 1 525 24 5315
Events
COOPERATIONS
DAS BUCH DER TÄNZE / BOOK OF DANCES Things unheard so far on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Horváth’s death Composition: Siegfried Kallenberg; Applied poetry: Ödön von Horváth; Music: Cordula Bösze & Salonorchester; Dance: Sibylle Starkbaum, Silvia Both; Reading: Wolfram Berger Wiener Volksliedwerk, Bockkeller, Fri, April 27, 7.30 PM www.weanhean.at
PHILIPPHOF PARKSIDE – GLAUBE SIEDLUNG HOFFNUNG / PHILIPPHOF PARKSIDE – FAITH COLONY HOPE Performative installation by Barbara Ungepflegt Dog area at Helmut Zilk Platz Thu, May 17 to Fri, June 1 nonstop, free entry www.barbara-ungepflegt.com
„WIR SIND ALLES NUR MENSCHEN. BESONDERS HEUTE.” / “WE ARE ALL JUST HUMANS. ESPECIALLY TODAY.” Reading with Katharina Stemberger and Wolfgang Böck Accordeon: Marco Buchler Tschauner Bühne, Mon, June 4, 7.30 Uhr www.tschauner.at
DAS ABGEBROCHENE DRAMA / THE ABANDONED DRAMA From Grillparzer to Grabbe, from Horváth to Bauer Kabinetttheater, Wed, June 6, Thu, June 7 and Sat, June 9 www.kabinetttheater.at
VON HORVÁTH BIS SCHWAB / FROM HORVÁTH TO SCHWAB Students of Genia Enzelberger‘s lecture at the Department of Theater, Film and Media Studies at the University of Vienna have the opportunity to compose scientific and journalistic texts on Horváth and his oeuvre. The best articles will be published as online-magazine in cooperation with the Theatermuseum. I’m not thinking, I’m only saying it. Ödön von Horváth and the Theatre March 15, 2018 - February 11, 2019
Lobkowitzplatz 2, 1010 Wien [email protected] T +43 1 525 24 5315
Press photos
Photos are free of charge in relation to the press coverage of the exhibition. They are available for download under www.theatermuseum.at/presse/
1_Exhibition poster 2_Kasimir und Karoline 3_ Kasimir und Karoline Ödön von Horváth, 1928. Stage model design by Caspar Neher Stage model design by Caspar Neher © Literaturarchiv der Österreichischen (1897–1962) for the world premiere at (1897–1962) for the world premiere at Nationalbibliothek Schauspielhaus, Leipzig, 1932 Schauspielhaus, Leipzig, 1932 Theatermuseum Theatermuseum © KHM-Museumsverband © KHM-Museumsverband
4_View of the exhibition at the 5_View of the exhibition at the 6_View of the exhibition at the Theatermuseum Theatermuseum Theatermuseum © KHM-Museumsverband © KHM-Museumsverband © KHM-Museumsverband I’m not thinking, I’m only saying it. Ödön von Horváth and the Theatre March 15, 2018 - February 11, 2019
Lobkowitzplatz 2, 1010 Wien [email protected] T +43 1 525 24 5315
Press photos
Photos are free of charge in relation to the press coverage of the exhibition. They are available for download under www.theatermuseum.at/presse/
7_View of the exhibition at the 8_View of the exhibition at the 9_View of the exhibition at the Theatermuseum Theatermuseum Theatermuseum © KHM-Museumsverband © KHM-Museumsverband © KHM-Museumsverband
Exhibition catalogue
“Ich denke ja garnichts, ich sage es ja nur.” Ödön von Horváth. Erotik, Ökonomie und Politik Edited by Nicole Streitler-Kastberger and Martin Vejvar, published in 2018 at Jung und Jung, Salzburg. The richly illustrated catalogue addresses topics like theatre aesthetics, performance practices, questions on the differentiation of the genders and a socio-economic, historical and political localization of Horváth‘s texts. The scientific articles are complemented with essays and literary texts by Wolfgang Müller-Funk, Gerhild Steinbuch, Fiston Mwanza Mujila, Ferdinand Schmalz, Peter Turrini and Ödön von Horváth. The catalogue (in German) is available at the museum shop and online: https://shop.khm.at/shop. Price: € 35 incl. VAT, ISBN-No: 978-3-99027-220-6 I’m not thinking, I’m only saying it. Ödön von Horváth and the Theatre March 15, 2018 - February 11, 2019
Lobkowitzplatz 2, 1010 Wien [email protected] T +43 1 525 24 5315
Imprint
General management: Thomas Trabitsch Curating: Nicole Streitler-Kastberger, Martin Vejvar Concept: Nicole Streitler-Kastberger, Martin Vejvar, Andreas Kugler Design: Peter Karlhuber Graphic design: Gerhard Spring Exhibition production and installation: Edgar Fontanari, Helga Reimair, Hannes Stockinger, Werner Stolz, Renato Utz, Harry Voithleitner Exhibition technology : Thomas Sandri Organisation, Press and Public Relations: Andreas Kugler Loans and insurances: Tanja Stigler Editing: Annette Van der Vyver Educational programmes and workshops: Karin Mörtl, Katharina Scholz-Manker, Ernst Tauchner Restorative support: Nadja Pohn, Kurt List Facility management: Andreas Riedel
We would like to thank the »National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism« for their generous support.
Contact Andreas Kugler Deputy Director, Marketing and Press Officer T + 43 1 525 24 5315 [email protected]