Open exhibition entrance with the trilingual title “Svoboda / Freiheit / Wolność”, introductory texts, screens and a view into the galleries.
Portrait-format view of a group of visitors at the open exhibition entrance beneath the title “Svoboda / Freiheit / Wolność”.

Freedom – An Unfinished Story

How can an exhibition give form to an idea that remains unfinished?

Context

The exhibition traces struggles for freedom from the revolutions of the 18th century to the present, with a particular focus on the civil rights movements in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany around 1989. Developed as a German-Polish-Czech collaboration, it connects these histories with contemporary debates about individual rights and collective responsibility.

Approach

Freedom resists definition. The exhibition approaches it as a concept in constant negotiation rather than a historical achievement. Across five stations, all texts and images are organised along a continuous line. As the content shifts above and below it, connections and discontinuities emerge between different movements, positions, and moments in time. Overscaled chapter titles hover across the exhibition like provisional constructs, inviting visitors to engage with freedom as an evolving idea whose meaning is still being negotiated.

Exhibition room with freestanding beige partitions, pink information panels, pictures and a suspended multilingual heading for “Thoughts”.
Three-dimensional design view of three connected exhibition walls with photographs, pink text panels and a monitor.
Exhibition wall elevation with pictures, pink text panels and figures of a wheelchair user and a standing person for scale.
Design diagram showing pink exhibition panels of different sizes, German and English sample texts and dimensions against a black background.
“Action” exhibition section with yellow wall edges and text panels, black and white photographs, two screens, headphones and a stool.
View through the “Action” exhibition section with beige walls and a large black and white photograph of a crowd.
Six groups of trilingual exhibition headings in pastel colours, including Thoughts, Community, Action, Escape, Politics and Prosperity.
A person studies photographs on an exhibition wall beneath the suspended trilingual heading “Negotiations”.
Yellow trilingual heading “Action” above an exhibition wall with text panels and a large black and white photograph.
Two people sit in the “Thoughts” exhibition section, one at a patterned table and one wearing headphones beside a projected image.
“Escape” exhibition section with blue-edged partitions, photo and text panels, a listening station and an object suspended above the room.
“Community” exhibition section with green wall edges, a large group photograph and a carved sculpture on a pale green plinth.
“Prosperity” exhibition section with yellow wall edges, screens and headphones, and a large colourful painting.
Wide view of the “Community” section with paintings, a red banner, a large black and white group photograph and a sculpture.
A group of visitors stands between a green exhibition partition, a historical group photograph and a carved sculpture.
Hands write on a green card on a wooden surface beside a wire rack of coloured cards.
Close-up of a wire rack holding green, pink and orange response cards, some filled in by hand.
Design overview of exhibition screens with yellow, pink and green text areas, video stills and subtitles.
Axonometric exhibition plan of an elongated space with several sections, partitions, screens and exhibits.
Project Title
Freedom – An Unfinished Story
Client
Deutsches Hygiene-Museum Dresden (German Hygiene Museum)
Year
2025
Services
Exhibition Graphics, Editorial Design, Interactive Media
Role
Concept Development, Art Direction, Design, Project Coordination, Production Coordination
Curatorial Team
Dr. Viktoria Krason
Philipp Bürger
Kathrin Haase
Laura Schmidt
Bettina Beer
Graphic Design
Sarah Fricke, Lea Sievertsen, Pawel Wolowitsch (Distaff Studio) in collaboration with the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum in-house team
Exhibition Architecture
Kooperative für Darstellungspolitik
Location
German Hygiene Museum, Dresden
Graphic Production
PIGMENTPOL Sachsen GmbH
Image Credits
Gunter Binsack
Typefaces
Friedl Beta by Camelot Typefaces