They are at home in boxes, in the attic or at the back of a cupboard: the "leftovers". Students from the Museum and Exhibition Master's programme are showing the exhibition "What's left - about picking up, stowing away and leaving behind". An interview with Nina Tillhon from the organisation team.
QUESTION: What is the appeal of designing an exhibition about leftover things?
TILLHON: The exciting thing about this topic is that things are "left over" for very different reasons and are often just supposedly useless. It's not without reason that everyone has "leftover things" at home - perhaps because a good friend has brought you something from their holiday. Unfortunately, you can't do anything with it yourself. Throwing it away is not an option either. We are interested in this small area in which things are neither actively in use nor rubbish: in "leftover things" and why they become that.
QUESTION: Where do the exhibition pieces come from?
TILLHON: We spent almost a year preparing the exhibition and conducting interviews on the subject. We opted for a participatory approach and worked closely with the people of Oldenburg and our circle of acquaintances. Following an appeal in December via newspapers, the Internet and notice boards, we received a great response. Many people were willing to tell us their stories and make their artefacts available.
QUESTION: What can visitors to the exhibition expect?
TILLHON: The challenge with our project was that we didn't have a collection to fall back on. On display are things that were left over because they were missed, because they are emotionally charged, dispensable or outdated, or because they have survived something, such as a dress, glasses or dentures. Visitors can expect not only "other things" from people all over Germany, but also the design, the narratives, the exhibition furniture, the design - everything is designed by us.
QUESTION: Useless or valuable - is that always a personal decision?
TILLHON: Absolutely! What we can show is that "other things" can be both useless and valuable: Two people keep the stuffed animal from their childhood, both in a box in the basement. For one of them, the stuffed animal is emotionally charged and should not be disposed of for this reason. The other simply put everything in boxes when they first moved out of their home and hasn't unpacked it since - the soft toy is basically dispensable. Both people have a "leftover" soft toy - for one it is valuable, for the other not.
"Was übrig bleibt - vom Aufheben, Verstauen und Zurücklassen" from 22 March to 6 April at the Ullmann-Haus (Lange Straße 91, Oldenburg). The opening with an introduction by the students will take place on Friday, 22 March at 6.00 pm.
