EXPEDITION GRIMM

PRESS RELEASE
EXPEDITION GRIMM
As the climax to Year of the Grimms 2013, the Federal State of Hessen will present the
exhibition EXPEDITION GRIMM, in the documenta Hall in Kassel. This extensive show will
examine the exciting life and diverse work of the two brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are famous around the world, especially for their Children's and
Household Tales, which have been translated into roughly 160 languages and which, alongside
Luther’s Bible, are among the most commonly translated of German books. But the Brothers
Grimm were more than just collectors of fairy tales. They have left behind many traces as
philologists, legal historians and politicians; with their German Grammar and German
Dictionary they laid the foundations for German philology. To celebrate the Grimm brothers’
huge significance for German cultural history, the Federal State of Hessen has launched this
exhibition, EXPEDITION GRIMM. Hessen’s Minister of Science and Art, Eva Kühne-Hörmann,
explains the purpose of the show, which she herself proposed: “There are many fascinating
connections between the life and works of the Brothers Grimm, and their home country of
Hessen. We want to use our exhibition to demonstrate that fact and, above all, to make it
clear there’s so much more to the Grimms than just fairy tales.”
In three showcases in the documenta Hall in Kassel, EXPEDITION GRIMM displays valuable
manuscripts and personal memorabilia of the brothers, and places them in the context of the
volatile political circumstances of the time. Works by their artist brother, Ludwig Emil, also
show how the Grimm family used to live.
In another part of the exhibition, starting with some of the Grimms’ more significant works,
eight experience trails lead us on a journey through their oeuvre. Interactive and experiential
stations along the way present a new and vivid perspective on the brothers’ diverse ventures.
Among other things, the exhibition examines questions such as which of the fairy tales were
subjected to the Grimms’ own self-censorship due to their brutal or indelicate content, and
why, even today, “Grimm’s Law” is still used as a philological term in English, and how Jacob
and Wilhelm Grimm might have used the potential of social networks had they been around
in the 21 st century.
EXPEDITION GRIMM Press contacts
The Office of the Hessen State Exhibition
Mirjam Flender, Silke Günnewig, c/o projekt2508 Gruppe
Riesstraße, 10 53113 Bonn, Germany
presse@expedition-grimm.de
www.expedition-grimm.de, www.grimm2013.de

The Brothers Grimm had a close relationship with the city of Kassel. While they were born in
Hanau and raised in Steinau, it was in Kassel they spent their school years and the years that
followed their studies in Marburg. They described these years as the “most industrious and
perhaps most fruitful time” of their lives. Not only did Jacob and Wilhelm compile their
Children's and Household Tales in this city; they also launched many more of their globally
influential works from Kassel, including the German Grammar and German Dictionary.
The Hessian exhibition is being organised to mark the bicentenary of the publication of the
Children's and Household Tales, the first edition of which appeared on 20 December 1812, as
well as the 150 th anniversaries of the deaths of both Jacob and Ludwig Emil Grimm, which fall
in 2013. As well as the large-scale EXPEDITION GRIMM exhibition in Kassel, throughout the
year there will be numerous other events around the Federal State of Hessen and along the
German Fairy Tale Route. Starting things off will be the international conference, “Fairy Tales,
Myths and Modernity – 200 years of the Grimm Brothers’ Children's and Household Tales”,
which tales place from 17 to 20 December 2010, at the University of Kassel.
For further information: www.expedition-grimm.de
EXPEDITION GRIMM Press contacts
The Office of the Hessen State Exhibition
Mirjam Flender, Silke Günnewig, c/o projekt2508 Gruppe
Riesstraße, 10 53113 Bonn, Germany
presse@expedition-grimm.de
www.expedition-grimm.de, www.grimm2013.de