Museum of Slowness | 2020

Sheets of paper fall into the room and are guided through it. Some of the texts by the 16 authors are printed on the paper, others are projected onto it. In fact, they can be heard. Like Peter Licht's song, which allows us to find a little humor in the whole situation. Authors have also spent most of the last few months at home. Readings have been canceled, new publications postponed. At least some of them are now present with their voices at the Literaturhaus Freiburg. They have suffered financial losses. Many have suffered losses or translated during the coronavirus weeks, but even that becomes difficult when, like Yuri Andrukhovych, you are waiting for a king. Namely, for "King Lear" in the ultimate critical edition, without which the Ukrainian author is reluctant to even begin. Judith Schalansky's clever reflection on our relationship with nature in view of a natural history cabinet in the window of an antique shop can also be read. Not only do the stuffed animals confront us with the paradox that we kill what we want to preserve, but also that we are threatened by those whose habitat we destroy. Humans and animals are getting too close. Felicitas Hoppe has collected words during the pandemic, such as "respirator mask," "occupational ban," "sneeze guard," and "spit wall," which describe the concrete situation but also document a society in a state of alarmism that has suspended its values, at least for the time being. It becomes clear that her friend Corona is a rather unwelcome guest. Hoppe also responds to Alexander Kluge, who sees our world as a large automaton and the virus as something from which society can learn. No, Hoppe counters, we are osmotic beings, equipped with a fine membrane that makes us vulnerable but also capable of cooperation. The "Museum of Slowness" creates this community for an hour; in this darkened, carpeted room, one feels as if in a cocoon... 

– Annette Hoffmann, Kulturjoker