Laß leuchten!
Peter Rühmkorf – selbstredend und selbstreimend
[Let it shine! Peter Rühmkorf – self-expressing and self-rhyming]
Until 31 October 2021
The multiple award-winning lyricist Peter Rühmkorf (1929–2008) lived in Hamburg by the Elbe river for many years, but his scripts have already been ›residing‹ as ›estates‹ in the German Literature Archive Marbach (Deutsches Literaturarchiv) since 1980. It is here that the Arno Schmidt Foundation (Arno-Schmidt-Stiftung) is now also presenting an extensive exhibition of Rühmkorf’s life and work entitled »Let it shine!« in the Schiller National Museum (Schiller-Nationalmuseum).
Not only did Rühmkorf publish his poetry in books, he also opened up new platforms for poetry. Together with some musician friends, he presented them as ›Jazz and Lyrics‹ in clubs, churches, and in other public places. He collected children’s rhymes and satirical verses, studied and reviewed the work of colleagues, admired poets of previous centuries, wrote stage plays, and reached a huge audience with his memoirs ›The Years You Know‹ (Die Jahre die Ihr kennt). Rühmkorf worked as managing editor of the journal konkret, as an editor for the publishing company Rowohlt, as well as being highly engaged in the students’ and peace movements.
The exhibition shows the many facets of Rühmkorf’s work and his life as an artist and a disputatious intellectual. The cornerstone of the exhibition is the ›Poetry Zone‹ (Raum der Gedichte), in which ten poems by Rühmkorf are staged in giant projections. The poem projections are complemented with a selection of little-known film shots taken of his ›Jazz and Lyrics‹ programs over several decades. Themed stations focus on important aspects of the lyricist’s creativity and life, introduce individual phases in his work, and explain his poetic concept. Rühmkorf’s extensive work process is illustrated with example of the poem ›Self lll/8‹ (Selbst lll/8) on a wall installation measuring 50 m2.
Open until 1 August 2021, and running in parallel with the exhibition ›Hölderlin, Celan and the languages of poetry‹ (›Hölderlin, Celan und die Sprachen der Poesie‹), the exhibition transforms the Marbach literature museums (Marbacher Literaturmuseen) into a space where the small literary form of the poem plays the major role and where visitors can encounter poetry in a variety of ways – in measure, meter, and numeral, in (e)motion and stillness, in sonorous and soft sound, in darkness and in shining light.
An exhibition of the ›Arno Schmidt Stiftung‹ at the Schiller National Museum.
Contact
Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach
Museums
Schillerhöhe 8-10
71672 Marbach
Telephone +49 (0) 7144 / 848-601
Email museum@dla-marbach.de