13 April 2023 press release

As part of the Austrian focus of the 2023 Leipzig Book Fair ("meaoiswiamia"), the Austrian National Library will be presenting a exhibition focusing on Austrian literature from the 1970s to the present day. Curated by the Austrian National Library's Literature Museum, the exhibition will be held in cooperation with the German National Library's German Museum of Books and Writing in Leipzig and is intended for a wide public with an interest in literature. The exhibition will be accompanied by a lavishly designed catalogue published by Residenz Verlag. Curators: Bernhard Fetz and Kerstin Putz - Literature Museum of the Austrian National Library.

Duration: 26 April 2023 to 7 January 2024

Website: dnb.de/jetztundalles

Dates:

• Press conference (hybrid): 25 April 2023 at 11:00
  Virtual: https://ihrstream.de/dnb/
• Exhibition opening: 25 April 2023, 19:00

Invitation to the press conference

marking the special exhibition to be held by the Austrian National Library's Literature Museum at the German Museum of Books and Writing as part of the Austrian focus of the 2023 Leipzig Book Fair:

"JETZT & ALLES. Austrian literature. The last 50 years"

on Tuesday 25 April 2023 at 11:00 in the foyer of the German National Library's German Museum of Books and Writing in Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 1, 04103 Leipzig

or virtually by livestream: https://ihrstream.de/dnb/

There will also be a Zoom meeting during which participants will have the opportunity to ask questions. This can be accessed via the livestream.

Speakers:

• Dr. Stephanie Jacobs (Head of the German Museum of Books and Writing at the German National Library)
• Dr. Johanna Rachinger (Director General of the Austrian National Library)
• Dr. Bernhard Fetz (Curator and Director Literature Museum of the Austrian National Library)
• Dr. Kerstin Putz, (Curator and researcher Literature Museum of the Austrian National Library)

Preview of the exhibition:

"JETZT & ALLES. Austrian literature. The last 50 years"

"JETZT & ALLES" showcases important Austrian authors from the last 50 years – from Thomas Bernhard, Elfriede Jelinek and Peter Handke to Friederike Mayröcker and Marlene Streeruwitz. The exhibition also features younger authors such as Ann Cotten, Clemens J. Setz and many others. Hitherto unseen manuscript pages, personal writing utensils, recovered objects and photographs from the collections of the Austrian National Library's Literature Archive illustrate the key themes and motifs of Austrian literature since the 1970s: social upheaval, remembrance culture, forgetfulness of history, and experimentation with form, media and genre.

Controversial and experimental, form-conscious and polyphonic – this is Austrian literature since the 1970s. Under the heading "JETZT & ALLES", the exhibition brings together items belonging to a selection of authors and tells the stories of how their works were created. Manuscripts, notebooks, drawings and sketches all offer insights into the ways in which authors work – as do clothes pegs, hiking boots, audio cassettes and Twitter posts. They all shed light on the techniques, media and sparks that inspire writing: the pencil and the typewriter, the voice and the mouth, dreams noted on slips of paper, photographs that bring back memories, and objects that coalesce into stories. What makes this exhibition unique is its strong focus on the materiality of literature: it focuses on the "things" that stimulate or inhibit authors in their writing, that offer inspiration or create resistance.

"JETZT" (NOW) signifies the topicality and contemporaneity of Austrian literature, the act of sensory, artistic world perception that is always happening in the now, and the moment in which an idea comes into existence and a sentence written down. "ALLES" (EVERYTHING) refers the the significance of Austrian literature across national borders and language barriers, to the all-encompassing aspiration to absorb everything into the realm of literature – that imaginary space that goes far beyond Austria's frontiers and territorial boundaries. Finally, "ALLES" (EVERYTHING) refers to the high artistic and moral aspirations of those authors who have spoken out vehemently against forgetfulness of history and loss of memory in Austrian society, and who remind us: "Be aware! The past is happening now!" (Elfriede Jelinek)

The exhibition presents a panorama of 50 years of Austrian literature that spans the space between "Now" and "Everything", a panorama that is diverse and sensuous, yet also controversial and riddled with paradox. Selected items merge into a polyphonic chorus.

Accompanying programme:

19 - 21 April 2023: Symposium "Grenzüberschreitungen. Österreichische Literatur 1973 - 2023" (Crossing Boundaries. Austrian Literature 1973 - 2023) (in cooperation with the University of Leipzig and Literaturhaus Leipzig)

More event dates:

• Tuesday, 9 May 2023, 19:00
  "Nicht nur das Geschriebene auch die Existenz musz poetisch sein" (Both writing and life must be poetical)
  an evening for Friederike Mayröcker.
  Actress reading, music by Maja Osojnik
  Introduction: Kerstin Putz
• Thursday, 22 June 2023, 19:00
  "Nachwelt" (Posterity)
  Reading: Marlene Streeruwitz
  Conversation with the author: Bernhard Fetz
• Saturday, 30 September 2023, 19:00
  "Jandln"
  An Ernst Jandl evening by and with Wolfram Berger, Wolfgang Puschnig und Jon Sass

Link to the event programme: dnb.de/jetztundalles

Contact

Images for editorial use

Press image material is only available in German.