Picture: Karlheinz Krämer
The exhibition “Greetings from Emden and East Fresia” presented picture postcards of the City of Emden and its surroundings with a view to the history of culture and communications in the city up until the Second World War. It illustrated the gradual emergence of the “correspondence-card”, the varied usage of such cards, the development of an entire branch of the economy, and the associated passion for collecting.
On the basis of several hundred original postcards, the range of use, production methods, and groups of motifs were presented in large-scale mural tableaux. The cards could be admired individually, but also as an ensemble linked by graphic means, with a coloured band circling the exhibition space. This also incorporated dates and explanatory texts. The band culminated in a graphic representation of the Emden town map to ceiling height, with numerous postcard reproductions showing the city’s sights. Back-lit, wall-high scales and projected image sequences completed the visual cosmos of this special exhibition, lending structure to the space.