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Trailer of the exhibition by Stefan Daub (Duration: 00:51)For the first time in the history of the Kunstforum der TU Darmstadt and the Unword photographers, an exhibition will be shown exclusively online. The photo exhibition about the the Unword of the Year 2019 will take place from March 20 to 29, 2020, in the Kunstforum der TU Darmstadt. Three years after the exhibition about the Unword 2016 in spring 2017 , the Unword photographers return onto the TU Darmstadt for the second time, where German language professor Nina Janich announced the Unword 2019 on January 14, 2020.
Virtual exhibition
Offline, Halle 4 will remain closed until further notice, but you can visit the exhibition online. A virtual tour of the exhibition “CLIMATE HYSTERIA. Photo exhibition Unword of the Year 2019”.
Idea
Every January, the tensions are rising in the meantime ten photographers from Darmstadt, because then the lingo of the previous year is selected by linguists. What is meant, as defined by the official definition, are “words and phrases from the public language that are grossly inappropriate and may even violate human dignity.”
So it's not sloppy language, it's about our society, which reveals itself through language. But if this unword unmasked circumstances, it must also, so the eight Darmstädter, map well.
And so, every year, a photo exhibition on a given topic is created anew. Independent from the Unword jury, donors or media. Each photographer presents two works that he or she uses to visualize the nonsense of the year.
Un|word that; ugly, unwanted word (see Duden)
Already in the dictionary of the Brothers Grimm was a “unword” described as a “bad, insulting word”. There are no “bad words” per se.
But there are attitudes, intentions and situations that weigh on one word. Anyone who criticizes the language and spares the speakers, also beats only the sack instead of the donkey. It is the attitude that produces a “nonsense”. This is characterized by gross distortion of reality and possibly even by violation of human dignity.
Quotes from Germanistikprofessor Horst Dieter Schlosser, Stern Online on 01/08/2005
Virtual opening
Necessity is the mother of invention: Due to the corona epidemic, the exhibition cannot open to the public. The exhibition opened as a livestream for the first time on March 19, 2020.
Mode
On the day of the announcement (beginning of January), the photographers meet to make a common group picture “suitable” for the new topic. The own work will then be shown about 6 weeks later in the at least 4-day exhibition. Each photographer makes a picture pair, which is presented in light boxes.
Unword of the year 2019
With the word “climate hysteria” climate protection efforts and the climate protection movement are defamed and important debates on climate protection are discredited. The term was used by many people in politics, business, and the media in 2019 — from the F.A.Z to entrepreneurs and especially AfD politicians. It generalizes the increasing commitment to climate protection as a kind of collective psychosis. Against the background of scientific findings on climate change, the word is also misleading and irresponsibly supports tendencies that are hostile to science.
Virtual guided tours
Virtually and in real time: On Sunday, March 22nd, 2020, at 4:00 p.m., the Unword photographers will guide you through the exhibition on Facebook. On Sunday, March 29, 2020, at 4:00 p.m., there will also be a short tour on Facebook followed by a discussion round. The livestream can be used to discuss with the photographers.
