12 x Giessen - From the Burial Mound to the Climbing Forest

An exhibition within the framework of the program Stadt[Labor]Gießen

The Upper Hesse Museum is on its way to a reconception. For this purpose, the program Stadt[Labor]Gießen was developed under the leadership of the Cultural Office. Designed to last two years, it aimed to actively involve citizens in the redesign and development of the Upper Hesse Museum.
In order to set this process in motion, new topics, concepts and presentations were tested in the Labor[Ausstellungen], which stands for laboratory [exhibitions].
The exhibition 12 x Gießen - From the Burial Mound to the Climbing Forest is the first laboratory [exhibition] in this context. For this experiment, it intentionally utilises a central urban space outside the Upper Hesse Museum - the Kunsthalle.

12 x Gießen tells the story and stories of Giessen in 12 chapters. The selected objects are examples of important epochs of the city's history. They range from prehistory and early history to the living present. For this purpose, objects from the holdings of the Upper Hesse Museum were selected, others could be obtained as loans.
With the presented information and stories about the objects well-known and lesser-known sides of Giessen are illuminated and presented. Thereby, special attention is paid to the everyday life of those Giesseners, of whom previous collections and presentations have not made notable mention.
The exhibition is designed not only for experienced museum and exhibition visitors - it also addresses those who have to a lesser extent considered the museum as part of their Giessen.

Citizens of many groups and neighborhoods participated in the creation process of the exhibition. An exceptional thanks to them.

12 x Giessen can be used as a walk through the city's history, without the visitors being given a specific route through the exhibition.

Organisation and Team Behind the Scenes:
Overall Leadership:Simone Maiwald
Curator Team: Dr. Ludwig Brake, Dr. Georgia Rakelmann
Project Leadership:Ingke Günther, Jörg Wagner
Spatial Concept:stern morgenstern wildegans
Graphics: Isa Balzer, Frauke Uihlein, Hagen Reier
Translation:Steven Konrad, Bastian Ludwig, Mike Marklove, Sinem Özkan, A. Brhan Marcos

Matthias Bahr
Carolin Falk
Dr. Nadia Ismail
Luisa Kothe
Joachim Knossalla
Regina Nitsch
Liane Scholl-Schäfer
Hayat Sheekhosman
Esther Steinbrecher
Caroline Streck
Wolfgang Terlitzki
Verein Ehrenamt e.V.

Contributors:
Mario Alves
Sigrid Brühl
Karl-Heinz Brunk
Karola Drews
Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt
Dr. Gerd Hasselbach
Maja Maria Liebau
Dr. Lutz Münzer
Dr. Jürgen Neubauer
Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Wiesbaden
Bijan Razavi
Team des Stadtarchivs
Team von transit-giessen e.V.

Patrons and Collaborators:
Alewitischer Verein
Hans Bahner
Mahmoud Ciwan
Peter Eschke
Julia Erb
Dr. Eva Marie Felschow
Gabriele Freyer
Gazi Gözüacik
Juri Gribuschenko
Johanna Kranzbühler M.A.
PD Dr. Steffen Kriep
Malte Küster
Theo Küster
Holger Laake
Matthes von Oberhessen
Dr. Katharina Mohnike
Nordstadtzentrum
Victor Ochs
Dr. Sophia Ott
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Ritzerfeld
Andreas Schmidt
Miriam Sowaid
Mohammad Sowaid
Stadttheater Gießen
Werkstattkirche
ZiBB Zentrum für interkulturelle Bildung und Begegnung

Virtual Presentation:
Bernd Heilenz - Highlance Media

Special thanks go out to:
Dr. Christa Benedum
Prof. Dr. Heinrich Brinkmann
Dietlind Grabe-Bolz
Marina Gust
Ali Ekinci
Trin Haland-Wirth
Theo Strippel
Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Wirth