The temporary exhibition “Kafka’s Echo” was developed in collaboration between the DLA, the National Library of Israel, and the Bodleian Libraries Oxford, and showcases Kafka collections that are unique worldwide. Among the items on display are the manuscript of Kafka’s novel fragment “The Trial,” letters, photographs, and memorabilia from contemporaries and companions. Visitors can track the different editions on an interactive board or explore the manuscript in the Kafka-Lab using a VR headset.

The collaborative project between L2M3 and Simon Busse Studio staged the exhibition with deliberate effect. In the foyer, the traditional bench-table combination was alienated in a Kafkaesque way to create new sightlines. A central gesture was the presentation of all Kafka originals in a room as a square with display cases, while the subsequent receptions in a larger room precisely “punched out” the small square. Another stylistic device was the oversized scaling of the library, which could only be observed in detail with binoculars. The exhibition was complemented by VR headsets and a retreat area that enabled the transition from analog to digital, allowing visitors to study the originals up close in unprecedented detail.

The Literature Museum of Modernity in Marbach am Neckar, designed by David Chipperfield Architects, presents a permanent exhibition featuring a wide range of 20th-century literature and a “virtual museum of the 21st century.” Until the reopening of the SNM, the “Swabians” Schiller, Hölderlin, Kerner, and Mörike are also housed here.

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Kafkas Echo

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