Grassi Museum of Ethnology, Leipzig
2023
Building on the intervention “Refreshment Space 2” at the OSTEN Festival in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, the master’s program “Cultures of Curation” is presenting an exhibition in the Rapid Response section of the Grassi Museum of Ethnology. In “Fermenting: Perspectives on ‘the East,’” we explore what “the East” might mean today and how attributions associated with “the East” can be continually redefined.
A concrete-sealed wine cellar, rice wine, and pickled cucumbers: As a group, we work with the overarching concept of fermentation as a metaphor to explore ways of engaging with history—first at the Bitterfeld-Wolfen industrial site and ultimately at the GRASSI Museum of Ethnology. Fermentation is one of the oldest methods for working with microorganisms to make matter more durable, digestible, and otherwise usable. Above all, however, it is a living process that allows us to imagine possible futures. In what ways can the changes and upheavals emerging in the attributions of “the East” be captured using the metaphor of fermentation and made visible in the museum?
In three chapters (TRANSFORMING, SPECULATING, FERMENTING), the exhibition traces the evolution of our understanding of “the East” and draws on the processes of preservation, transformation, and speculation inherent in fermentation to convey its impressions of Bitterfeld-Wolfen into the museum space. In addition to thoughts and stories about objects in the collection that stimulate ideas and imaginings of “the East,” the exhibition brings together various artistic positions that explore the potentials of transformation. A disused exhibition space in the museum is integrated into fermentation processes just as much as soil, fruits, plants, or mementos.