Controversy. People, media, mechanisms in the 18th century and today

There is much and extensive argument about disputes. What are the limits of what can be said - where does constructive discussion end and personal insult and disparagement begin? In 2023, the Francke Foundations are dedicating their annual exhibition to the difficult and socially central topic of dispute and giving it historical depth. The team of curators led by Prof. Dr. Holger Zaunstöck and Claudia Weiß, Research Centre of the Francke Foundations, will relate the disputes of the present to the disputes of the century of enlightenment using selected exhibits and interactive stations.

What our present time and the time of that era have in common is that the boundaries of what can be said are not fixed, but must always be determined in cooperation. We humans are responsible for how we treat each other. This is the starting point for the exhibition, which will investigate the mechanisms of disputes using concrete cases, the media used and the people involved or affected. The panorama ranges from historical images of the »fight over the trousers« between the sexes to bitterly arguing scholars to Frederick II of Prussia as well as from sound conflicts in opera and rap to disparagement in talk shows and social media to the football stadium as an arena of dispute.

The occasion for the exhibition is the 300th anniversary of Christian Wolff's expulsion from Halle and the underlying debate between the philosopher and the pietistically influenced theological faculty of Halle University.

The curatorial team consists of:
Dr. Stefan Borchers (Berlin)
Dr. Lea Hagedorn (Berlin)
Florian Halbauer (Halle)
Leef Hansen (Halle)
Prof. Dr. Franziska Heller (Halle)
Prof. Dr. Simon Meier-Vieracker (Dresden)
Prof. Dr. Andreas Pečar (Halle)
Dr. Anna Schürmer (Halle)
Prof. Dr. Gerd Schwerhoff (Dresden)
Claudia Weiß (Halle)
Prof. Dr. Holger Zaunstöck (Halle)

Catalogue to the Exhibition:

Streit. Menschen, Medien, Mechanismen im 18. Jahrhundert und heute.
Herausgegeben im Auftrag der Franckeschen Stiftungen von Claudia Weiß und Holger Zaunstöck. Halle 2023 (Kataloge der Franckeschen Stiftungen, 39).
200 S., 155Abb., € 28,00; ISBN 978-3-447-11977-1

Exhibition Design:

Formikat (Halle /Saale))