Hölderlin anniversary »on the Wingertsberg« in Bad Homburg – »Corona-Update«
The Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften and the Werner Reimers Foundation are participating in the anniversary celebrations of Friedrich Hölderlin's 250th birthday with two exhibitions, an academic conference and an evening lecture. The planned events will be carried out in different formats.

One of the prominent Hölderlin sites in Bad Homburg is the so-called »Hölderlin Pavilion« in Reimers Park, which surrounds the Forschungskolleg. This is thought to be the place that Hölderlin described in letters to his sister: »I go there when I am tired from my work, I climb the hill and sit in the sun, and look out beyond Frankfurt into the distance, and these innocent moments give me the courage and strength to live and work again.« Hölderlin lived in Bad Homburg twice, each time for a period of two years (1798–1800 and 1804–1806) and composed significant parts of his later works here. For this reason, Bad Homburg is one of the cities celebrating his 250th birthday in the »Hölderlin Year« 2020.

The Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften and the Werner Reimers Foundation, both of which are located on the small hill between the Kurpark and the Hardtwald, will be participating in the varied program of events in Bad Homburg. Hölderlin activities will begin »on the Wingertsberg« with the exhibition of Hölderlin installations in the park. The artists Anja Harms and Eberhard Müller-Fries will place poems by Hölderlin in the form of QR codes in large steel frames reminiscent of open books. The outdoor exihibition can be visited from 9 June to 31 October 2020 (on weekdays 9 am. to 5 pm).

An international academic conference will examine Hölderlin's Homburg writings. At the invitation of Professor Achim Geisenhanslüke of Frankfurt's Goethe University, a group of Hölderlin scholars will come together at the Forschungskolleg and, under the title »Hölderlin's Homburg Works or The Revolution of Poetic Language«, will explore the thesis that in the late phase of his writing, Hölderlin increasingly perceived himself as a politically self-confident individual, and that the revolutionary mood that shaped the times was also expressed in his poetry. The conference, orginally scheduled in June, will be postponed until autumn 2020.

The Forschungskolleg will invite the public to participate in the conference with an evening lecture by the renowned Parisian literary scholar and translator Jean-Pierre Lefèbvre. This lecture will be postponed until autumn 2020 as well.

The Hölderlin activities at the Forschungskolleg will conclude with the travelling exhibition »Hölderlin's Places«. The photographer Barbara Klemm has photographed places, landscapes and views found in Hölderlin's poems and landscape descriptions. The exhibited pictures unite text and photography. The exhibition will open on September 3 and be on view for six weeks at the Forschungskolleg.