Kids Curate Klee
Finding new ways of cultural participation is one of the main aims of curating. But what happens when children are involved in the exhibition-making process? The pioneering museological project Kinder kuratieren Klee tried it out: From the conception to the selection of works to the public appearance, children planned an extensive exhibition on Paul Klee.
Kinder kuratieren Klee was a pioneering curatorial project with the aim of involving children in the exhibition-making process. Paul Klee was fascinated by children's view of the world: His involvement with children's artistic expression, as well as his contact with his son Felix, repeatedly provided him with crucial inspiration and ideas. With this in mind, in 2021 the Zentrum Paul Klee invited a group of children aged 8-12 to look at the works of Paul Klee and reinterpret them.
Over the course of a series of 25 workshops, which were held once a week from August 2021 to March 2022, the exhibition A Shining Secret. Kids Curate Klee and a parallel interactive exhibition entitled Insights. A look behind the façade at the Creaviva Children's Museum, an independent institution within the Zentrum Paul Klee.
Kinder kuratieren Klee was based on a variety of methods that were developed specifically for this project and were oriented towards existing curatorial methods, but were also based on Paul Klee's work itself. The aim was to condense the complex task of conceiving the exhibition into playful decision-making processes and, in doing so, to develop an exhibition of high artistic quality that would open up new perspectives on Klee and at the same time meet the public's expectations of a collection exhibition.
The project was a collaboration between the Collection, Exhibition, Research Department of the Zentrum Paul Klee, the Creaviva Children's Museum and the paul&ich community project. The exhibition A Shining Secret. Kids Curate Klee took place from 22.5. to 4.9.2022 at the Zentrum Paul Klee.