When people flee, their words go with them to the new country. They cross borders, open up new contexts, reveal previously hidden levels of meaning: “Words were waiting everywhere, I just had to cut them out. They were outside me, I didn’t have to search my mind for them as I do when I am writing. The texts resound because the words are shaded with a variety of colours and the changing sizes give them different voices.” (Herta Müller: The echo in the Mind).

Herta Müller’s collages cross boundaries. They blur the distinctions between image and text, poetry and prose, literal and figurative meaning. However, they do more than break through formal and aesthetic constraints; in terms of content, they also engage repeatedly with borders, border crossings, flight and exile. The German Exile Archive 1933–1945 has worked with Herta Müller to choose a selection of collages that focus on these themes. The exhibition also includes the series "Mondallein gefangen sein", dedicated by Herta Müller to the Chinese poet, photographer and painter Liu Xia, who lives in exile in Germany. (Photo: Herta Müller, Im Heimweh ist ein blauer Saal; Carl Hanser Verlag; protected by copyright )

Herta Müller has recorded all the collages for an audio guide. “We are delighted to have enlisted Herta Müller’s assistance with this audio guide, as this will enable listeners to experience the many dimensions of her collages all the more intensively,” says Dr. Sylvia Asmus, Director of the German Exile Archive.

Exhibition design: SPACE4 GmbH, Stuttgart

To launch the exhibition, Herta Müller provided insights into her working methods and talked about life under a dictatorship during a platform discussion with Sylvia Asmus, Director of the German Exile Archive 1933–1945.

In the virtual exhibition “Künste im Exil” (“Arts in exile”) you can find a video interview with Herta Müller and Liao Yiwu.