Von Alumni für Alumni: Visit at the Giersch Museum at Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main Museum Giersch der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
What a wonderful evening and the premiere of the “Von Alumni für Alumni” event in Frankfurt am Main! Nearly 30 alumni accepted the invitation and enjoyed the opportunity to connect with one another and gain exclusive insights into the “Solastalgia” exhibition at the Giersch Museum at Goethe University. The host of the evening, curator, deputy director, and FU alumna Susanne Wartenberg, welcomed the guests and, amidst the temporary forest created by artist Asad Raza, shared insights into the history of the museum.
Curator Katrin Kolk guided the group through the exhibition and explained the background of the various exhibits, such as the 26 trees on the ground floor, which create a unique sense of space as soon as visitors enter the building. Depending on the lighting conditions and the needs of each tree, trained arborists, who are always on hand in the exhibition to assist visitors, move the trees around the rooms and position them optimally. The alumni group was particularly moved by the fate of the trees after the exhibition ends - but the artist Asad Raza had already taken this into account: the trees will be planted in the ground after the exhibition concludes.
Landscapes from times past, rare earth elements and the environmental pollution associated with their mining, artistically reinterpreted found objects from Frankfurt am Main, sound art, and footage from wildlife cameras were all part of the walk through the exhibition and underscored the theme of “Solastalgia.” The term was coined in 2005 by the Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht and describes “a feeling of painful longing for a disappearing landscape, which is perceived as home, in the face of climate change. Solastalgie implies grief and melancholy over the irreversible loss as well as comfort and solace.”
The alumni who gathered – representing a wide range of generations and fields of study – also expressed nostalgia for their time as students in Berlin before, during, or after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Some had been living in Frankfurt am Main and the surrounding area for several decades, while others had just moved to Frankfurt for their first job after graduating. They all expressed a great interest to have more gatherings to further strengthen their bonds with one another and the alumni network.