2 November 2021

ERICH WONDER – SETS OF WONDER FOR HEINER MÜLLER

Exhibition from 16 January to 13 March 2022, Pariser Platz

Erich Wonder and Heiner Müller met for the first time in the mid-1970s at the Schauspiel Frankfurt. A long-term professional friendship developed between the Austrian set designer and the East German playwright and director that was to last until Müller's death in 1995. The two artists were influenced by very different political and aesthetic experiences, a disparity that became a productive driving force behind their collaboration. Their encounter led to theatre productions that set standards because, in an aesthetically breathtaking way, they reflected the political developments in divided and reunified Germany. Their joint projects included stagings that made theatre history: Der Lohndrücker (1988) and Hamlet/Maschine (1990) at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin and Tristan und Isolde at the Bayreuth Festival (1993).

The exhibition ERICH WONDER – SETS OF WONDER FOR HEINER MÜLLER sheds light on these working processes. It presents for the first time paintings and large-format watercolours by Erich Wonder, texts by Heiner Müller, photographs by Sibylle Bergemann, costumes by Yohji Yamamoto and original props from their collaborative productions. Film excerpts afford a glimpse of the legendary productions Der Lohndrücker and Hamlet/Maschine. The exhibition is curated by the director and author Stephan Suschke, who worked with Müller from 1987 to 1995. The exhibition is taking place to mark the acquisition of Erich Wonder's archive by the Akademie der Künste. 

Exhibition details
ERICH WONDER – SETS OF WONDER FOR HEINER MÜLLER
Exhibition from 16 January to 13 March 2022
Admission free on the opening day, Sunday, 16 January 2022, 11 am to 7 pm
Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz 4, 10117 Berlin, Tel. 030 20057-1000
Tue – Sun, 11 am to 7 pm
€ 9/6, admission free up to 18 years and on Tuesdays from 3 pm
www.adk.de

Press contact and press photos: presse@adk.de, Tel. +49 (0)30 20057-1514