Pop Up Cranach

The inter­ac­tive POP UP CRANACH exhi­bi­tion for chil­dren focus­es on eight paint­ings that can be expe­ri­enced in a Wit­ten­berg con­sist­ing of eight ​“hous­es.” The scenog­ra­phy brings these won­der­ful works to life in the gallery’s large lob­by. On a jour­ney through time through this small town, they sud­den­ly begin to move, trans­form­ing into shad­ows, sounds, worlds of play and col­or. Every detail of the paint­ing becomes a puz­zle – and awaits the chil­dren’s cre­ative answers.

Peri­od cos­tumes invite chil­dren to dance and take part in a fash­ion show, allow­ing them to not only learn about the dis­tinc­tive fash­ions of the era through play, but also to learn first­hand about Cranach’s many por­traits. Vis­i­tors expe­ri­ence Wit­ten­berg’s mar­ket square as a his­tor­i­cal ​“hid­den object pic­ture” that is set in motion by hid­den shad­ows and thus sud­den­ly becomes deci­pher­able. Whether it’s Cranach’s every­day work­ing life, the diverse occu­pa­tions of the painter, phar­ma­cist, and may­or, or the detailed analy­sis of a ​“Her­cules” paint­ing with the help of audio sto­ries, at the Cranach sta­tions, chil­dren can play indi­vid­u­al­ly, solve prob­lems in pairs, or explore the Ref­or­ma­tion as a class.

In this small Wit­ten­berg, vis­i­tors of all ages become active explor­ers of art and his­to­ry! Each house is ded­i­cat­ed to a par­tic­u­lar paint­ing or a spe­cial aspect of Lucas Cranach’s life.

The didac­ti­cal­ly staged exhi­bi­tion cre­ates a Cranach edu­ca­tion­al trail through the indi­vid­ual sta­tions in the large foy­er. Con­ceived as a trav­el­ing exhi­bi­tion, this show will also be pre­sent­ed at oth­er sta­tions (includ­ing Wit­ten­berg in 2015) with new spa­tial configurations.