23 May 2016

Kinder im Exil (Children in Exile)
Exhibition and Special Events
16 June – 20 July 2016, opening on 16 June, 10 am

The experiences of children in flight from their homelands and living in exile are the focus of an extensive programme organised by the Akademie der Künste under the title Kinder im Exil (Children in Exile). A documentary exhibition, related special events, and school workshops link the present with exile experiences of the past, traces of which can be found among the many estates in the extensive archives of the Akademie der Künste. The exhibition opens on 16 June, led by Aydan Özoğuz, Minister of State and the Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration, Jeanine Meerapfel, President of the Akademie der Künste, and Edzard Reuter.

In its historical section, the exhibition shows facsimiles of photographs, letters and working manuscripts from the archives at the Akademie der Künste, in particular from the estates of artists who had to go into exile with their children between 1933 and 1945. Rarely acknowledged or previously taken into account, the perspectives of children who fled with their parents are now brought to light, including the sons and daughters of Walter Benjamin, Bertolt Brecht and Helene Weigel, George Grosz, Anna Seghers, and others. The exhibition’s present-day section is dedicated to ART WORLDS projects by artists and children about exile. Berlin school groups, also made up of welcoming classes, have utilised the archives at the Akademie der Künste since September 2015, delving into the estates and documents of Ellen Auerbach, Alfred Döblin, Heinrich Mann, Bruno Taut, et al. They have been inspired to produce films, models, texts, photographs, drawings, musical compositions, theatre productions and a crime story as a result, which even today show emigration from both sides of the coin – as a challenge, but also as an enrichment.

Talks, readings, presentations and workshops for children augment the exhibition. A broad programme of guided tours convey the exhibition’s subject matter to both children and adults.
On the first three days of the exhibition, from 16 – 18 June, documentary films about those who’ve had to flee and go into exile are shown in cooperation with the Jüdisches Filmfestival Berlin & Brandenburg. The films, made between 2000 and the present, thwart expected viewpoints, allow the past to be reconsidered and make the realities they show seem alarmingly close.

In cooperation and with the support of the Helga und Edzard Reuter-Stiftung and the Ministerium für Bildung, Jugend und Sport des Landes Brandenburg (MBJS, Brandenburg Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports).

Kinder im Exil (Children in Exile)   16 June – 20 July 2016
Opening on Thursday, 16 June 2016, 10 am, free admission
With Aydan Özoğuz (Minister of State), Jeanine Meerapfel, Edzard Reuter, Werner Heegewaldt, Gesine Bey and school groups.
Exhibition: Mon-Sun 10 am – 10 pm, free admission; guided tours, Tue-Sun 11 am, Curator’s Tours, Thur 6 pm, Sun 11 am
Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg 10, 10557 Berlin, Tel. +49 (0)30 200 57-2000

Press contact: Brigitte Heilmann, Tel. +49 (0)30 200 57-1513, heilmann@adk.de,
Mareike Wenzlau, Tel. +49 (0)30 200 57-1566, wenzlau@adk.de
Press dossier and press photos are available online: http://www.adk.de/de/presse/pressematerial.htm