Out of the Box

For 75 years, the Akademie der Künste has sustained an archive whose scope – like that of the artists’ society itself – remains unique. Its collections in literature, music, architecture, visual arts, performing arts, and film and media arts unfold a polyphonic history: of artistic practice, of ruptures and new beginnings, of exile and return, of visions and resistance. In the dialogue between the arts and their testimonies, a cultural foundation takes shape, one that nourishes the present’s understanding of itself while offering orientation to generations to come. Open to inquiry from many vantage points, the Archives can be regarded as a living space of memory, research and inspiration.

The anniversary presents an opportunity to open the stacks and storerooms, granting an unusual glimpse into the hidden world of an art archive. Seventy-five exhibits map out what renders this legacy unique. For the Archives are more than a repository of ideas, discourses and biographies; they are, above all, a place where objects and documents retain their aura.

At the same time, the objects show what “working on memory” entails – the tasks, challenges and rewards associated with sustaining a living archive. The seventy-five years also invite reflection on a history shaped by upheaval that began in 1950 with the creation of the Heinrich Mann Archive at the newly founded Deutsche Akademie der Künste in East Berlin. No one could then foresee that this modest beginning would evolve into an interdisciplinary collection devoted to the art and culture of modernity in the German-speaking world.

The exhibition extends to the present, where contemporary artists bring new life to the Archives through their interpretations. The Archive Is Inspiration, the title of a film of interviews shown in the exhibition, captures this dynamic succinctly. It is more than a sentiment: it is both a mandate and a motto for the future.

Werner Heegewaldt
Director of the Archives