Walter Höllerer at the TU Berlin – the years 1959 to 1973 – an exhibition on the occasion of his 100th birthday

A cooperation project of the master programs Stage Design_Scenic Space (TU, Faculty VI), Sound Studies and Sonic Arts (UdK) and Theory and History of Science and Technology (TU, Faculty I).

The poet, literary scholar and literary mediator Walter Höllerer, who taught at the TU Berlin from 1959 to 1988, was instrumental in giving visible expression to the special status of the humanities at the TU and transformed the Technische Universität Berlin into a stage for contemporary literature. At the same time, the chair to which Höllerer had been appointed in 1959 gave itself a program with the formula “Language in the Technical Age” (Sprache im technischen Zeitalter), which opened up literary studies in the direction of a comprehensive contemporary analysis guided by language. The exhibition of the same name is dedicated to the history and success of this particular model of interdisciplinarity. In four teams, our students, together with students of the Theory and History of Science and Technology and students of Sound Studies and Sonic Arts (UdK), developed an experimental exhibition concept on the essential aspects of Höllerer’s work.

In collaboration with the research project “Object Space Agency” at the Cluster of Excellence “Matters of Activity” at HU Berlin, an experimental VR installation was also developed, based on Walter Höllerer’s novel “Die Elephantenuhr.

Aesthetics of suddenness
Space installation & dramaturgy: Ramona Hufler, Dr. Thiago Lion, Helena Palmer with Lena Mehner
Sound: Özgür Yilmaz; VR: Dr. Christian Stein

Authorship as a sign system
Space installation & dramaturgy: Zike Lee, Diellza Zogaj
Sound: Hayden Dean

Cybernetic Poetry Booth System
Space installation & dramaturgy: Siwei Cai, Nikolai Korypaev
Sound: Salomé Lubczanski, Makoto Oshiro

🔤👀⏯👂⏏️
Space installation & dramaturgy: Omar Sherif, Lina Wittfoht
Sound: Germaine Png