Newsletter 3 / May 2021

Painting by Achim von Arnim-Bärwalde on the door of his former studio at Schloss Wiepersdorf

EVENTS

Transformation #3: There Is No Other Place
Regina Scheer and Andreas Platthaus in conversation
Livestream / Thursday, 13 May 2021, 5 p.m. (in German)

Regina Scheer has made a name for herself with her two successful novels Machandel and Gott wohnt im Wedding: as a late debutante and as a chronicler of change in 20th-century Germany. Together with literary editor Andreas Platthaus, she will talk about the challenges of social transformation for her work—especially with regard to geographical permanence. Also, they will discuss her transformation from a cultural scientist into a writer.

Regina Scheer, born in Berlin in 1950, studied theater and cultural studies at Humboldt University. From 1972–1976 she worked at the weekly magazine ‘Forum.’ After that she was a freelance author of reports, essays and song lyrics and a contributor to the literary magazine ‘Temperamente.’ After 1990 she participated in exhibitions, films and anthologies and published several books at the interface between literature and documentation. For her first novel Machandel she received the Mara Cassens Prize in 2014. In 2019, the novel Gott wohnt im Wedding was published. In 2022, a documentary-biographical book will be published under the title Bittere Brunnen.
Andreas Platthaus, born in 1966 in Aachen, studied philosophy, rhetoric and history. He heads the ‘Literature and Literary Life’ department of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, for which he has written since 1992, and is the author of numerous books, including the major account of the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig, 1813, and the portrait of America, On the Palisades. Andreas Platthaus lives in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main.

“Artists are the first on the ship of fools”—The painter Achim von Arnim-Bärwalde
Wolfgang Bunzel and Petra Heymach in conversation
Livestream / Wednesday, 26 May 2021, 5 p.m. (in German)

There is still so much to discover about the painter Achim von Arnim-Bärwalde (1848-1891), the first grandson of Bettine and Achim von Arnim. He was born with a physical handicap, lost his mother very early and remained a sickly child for a long time. Nevertheless, he soon took a direction that was quite different from the lives of his ancestors. Instead of working in agriculture and forestry as heir to the estate like his father Freimund von Arnim, he trained as a painter and thus defied the intended expectations. Schloss Wiepersdorf owes its present appearance to his artistic creative urge. He not only provided the manor house with its own studio extension and added an orangery to the main building, but also gave the entire complex an Italianate flair.

Petra Heymach, curator and granddaughter of the artist Bettina Encke von Arnim, and Wolfgang Bunzel, professor of modern German literature and head of the Brentano department at the Freies Deutsches Hochstift, will talk about the painter’s unusual life. The talk will be hosted by Annette Rupp.

ON DEMAND

Transformation #2: Entkoppelte Gesellschaft
A virtual panel discussion with Yana Milev, Christoph Tannert and Thomas Krüger
Recorded event from 22 April 2021 (in German language)

Yana Milev, Christoph Tannert and Thomas Krüger analysed and discussed the question of how the process of the German-German unification process should be continued in economic, political, social and cultural terms. Their paths in life crossed in the 1980s in the subculture scene of the GDR. They found a common starting point for their conversation in the artistic and intellectual legacy of the GDR, the relationship between artistic production and academic research, and the role of cultural education in times of transformation.

Transformation #1: “Well, let's see what happens”
Martin Gross, Mandy Tröger and Jan Wenzel
Recorded event from 25 March 2021 (in German language)

Author Martin Gross and media and communications expert Mandy Tröger talked about the book Das letzte Jahr. Aufzeichnungen aus einem ungültigen Land, and the hopes and disappointments in the East German press landscape in 1990. The conversation was moderated by publisher Jan Wenzel.

“We have to imagine”
A conversation about Bertolt Brecht, Michael Schmidt and working with archive material
Available in the Schloss Wiepersdorf online showcase (in German language)

In 1955, Bertolt Brecht's Kriegsfibel was published for the first time in the GDR. In 1996, Michael Schmidt's artist's book Ein-heit was published in post-unification Germany. Both publications deal with German history, especially the Second World War, and use media images to examine the expressive power of photography. Prof. Dr. Erdmut Wizisla and Schloss Wiepersdorf fellow Maxie Fischer talked about the books and the scholarly work with archival material in August 2020, that is now available in our online showcase.

„Herzhaft in die Dornen der Zeit greifen...“
Reading & conversation on the occasion of Bettina von Arnim's birthday
with Dr. Sonja Hilzinger and Dr. Dorothee Schmitz-Köster (in German language)
Recorded event from 4 April 2021

SPECIAL RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM 2021

The Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv enables a research fellowhip in Wiepersdorf on the Deutsche Tischgesellschaft

Application deadline: 10 May 2021

The Cultural Foundation Schloss Wiepersdorf, in cooperation with the Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv, Klassik Stiftung Weimar, is offering a very special research fellowship this year. The focus is on the files of the Deutsche Tischgesellschaft, which the archive acquired and opened for research, and which are digitally available for the first time via the archive. This extracurricular three-month residency fellowship in Schloss Wiepersdorf  is set for the period September to November 2021. The application deadline is 10 May 2021. Further information and the application form (in German language) can be found at: https://www.schloss-wiepersdorf.de/de/sonderstipendien.html

The Deutsche Tischgesellschaft was founded in 1811 by Achim von Arnim. The members included representatives from the arts, science, administration, and the military. The special fellowship is intended to provide the opportunity to work on an essay and / or blog post on the Deutsche Tischgesellschaft. Of particular interest are topics that deal with sociability in the epoch of Romanticism, gender politics, and anti-Semitism in the early 19th century.

Contact:

Cultural Foundation Schloss Wiepersdorf
Founding Director
Annette Rupp
Bettina- von-Arnim-Str. 13 | 14193 Wiepersdorf
Phone +49 (0)337 46 69 90 | Fax +49 (0)337 46 699 19
Mobile: +49 (0)176 22 03 99 21
Email: annette.rupp@schloss-wiepersdorf.de
www.schloss-wiepersdorf.de