Ai Weiwei at the Grimmwelt...

11:40 p.m.

07/31/17 - Once upon a time, two brothers were so passionate about words, that they collected them, classified them and even invented them to create fantastic stories. Their home is now a museum dedicated to language, which houses the collection of terms by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, displayed together with the artworks of Contemporary artists.



Grimmwelt, Kassel. General view.
The building was opened to the public in September 2015 and it's the latest addition to Kassel, with an open architecture that leads to a surrounding park. As we enter, we are welcome by a maze with the letters of the alphabet. Each letter leads to a German word, which is then linked to an artwork. For example, the letter H takes us to Holzwurzel which means "tree root". This word was considered quite convenient since the Grimm brothers called their word-collecting work "root investigation". It also leads to the installation "Colored Roots" by Ai Weiwei, specially created for this space. The Chinese artist, receiver of the Glas der Vernunft award in this city, distributed five tree roots from the South of China, painted in different colors. According to Weiwei the roots of words of the Grimm brothers are related to the fairy tales that always took place in the woods.


Colored Roots, by Ai Weiwei (2009-2015)
Materials: 3 tree roots from the South of China, automobile paint
The letter Q leads to the word Quitte, which stands for something similar to "quince", so the maze takes us to an installation by Antoni Miralda: a banquet, as those in the tales.

Banquet Table Tales, by Antoni Miralda (2015)
Ceramics
The stories, such as "Sleeping Beauty" or "Little Red Ridding Hood", became real with the conjunction between popular interest and fairy tales. That was the main academic achievement of the Grimm brothers: mixing the dark moral fervor with some fantasy in a sinister ambivalence. The Grimmwelt is, in fact, a shelter for the words that have caused us emotion, terror and illusion but it's also an interesting place to visit because of its new approach as a museum and its artistic highlights, such as Ai Weiwei.

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Liliana Wrobel


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Carla Mitrani

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