Ingeborg Bachmann: Travelling Exhibition

She is an icon of 20th-century literary history, each new posthumous publication an event; the fascination with her work and her persona remains unbroken: Ingeborg Bachmann (1926–1973), the great Austrian poet, is honored in a comprehensive exhibition.

To this day, she continues to inspire biographers and filmmakers, literary scholars and generations of readers worldwide. The exhibition presents previously unpublished materials from her estate, including letters from Max Frisch, Henry Kissinger, Marie Luise Kaschnitz and Nelly Sachs. Numerous original manuscripts, personal items such as her typewriter and wardrobe, and rare audio and film recordings demonstrate how deeply Ingeborg Bachmann’s life followed an aesthetic concept that is inseparably linked to her work. Video commentaries by contemporary Bachmann experts highlight the relevance and lasting impact of her writings.

The five chapters of the exhibition focus on Ingeborg Bachmann’s key works, from her early story “Das Honditschkreuz” (1944) to the celebrated poetry collections “Die gestundete Zeit” (1953) and “Anrufung des Großen Bären” (1956), culminating in her much-interpreted and only completed novel “Malina” (1971). The chapters evoke the places that shaped this restless writer: the Klagenfurt of her childhood, the Vienna of her early fame, Munich, Zurich, Berlin, and again and again Rome – “I learned to live here.” The exhibition presents Ingeborg Bachmann as a confident yet vulnerable artist, an early media star and style icon, and a political writer.

The exhibition is based on the special exhibition Ingeborg Bachmann. A Homage, which was on display from November 2022 to November 2023 at the Literature Museum of the Austrian National Library in Vienna. The accompanying book has been published in the series “Profile” by Zsolnay Verlag.

An exhibition by the Literaturhaus Munich and the Literature Museum of the Austrian National Library in cooperation with local partner institutions
Curated by Kerstin Putz & Michael Hansel (Vienna), Anna Seethaler (Munich)

Literaturhaus Munich (Germany)
14. May 2024 – 24. November 2024 
Impressions Munich

Casa di Goethe Rome (Italy) 
13. March 2025 – 31. August 2025
Impressions Rome 

Museum of Literature on the Upper Rhine, Karlsruhe (Germany)
8 March 2026 – 6 September 2026

kärnten.museum, Klagenfurt (Austria)
18 October 2026 – 4 July 2027

The use of the image material provided in the context of reporting on the Austrian National Library is free of charge. Copyright, unless otherwise stated: Austrian National Library.

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Elke Koch
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