40 years Stroemfeld/Roter Stern Publisher - Exhibition

German National Library Frankfurt 2010

The publishing house Roter Stern (Red Star) was founded in 1970 by KD Wolff, emerging from the student movement, and initially published political pamphlets. At the end of the 1970s, the publishing house turned away from radical political content and developed a program more closely aligned with its own literary interests. Alongside its well-known historical-critical editions of texts, it now also published prose, poetry, religious philosophy, cultural studies, and film-related works. The name Stroemfeld/Roter Stern, in reference to Hölderlin, was eventually adopted.

The diverse and often controversial publishing program, as well as the evolution and expansion of its subject areas, formed the basis of the exhibition concept. The star served as a central design element: a connecting motif between the history and present of the publishing house – as a whole, fragmented, and in its negative form.

The exhibition space was structured by the lines of a "smashed" star, guiding visitors through the various thematic areas. These lines evolved into display walls that dissolved into a grid of black surfaces, providing each book with its own presentation area. Translucent banners with handwritten notes by the authors referenced the historical-critical editions, while display cases containing documents supplemented the publishing house's history.

Access to the exhibition was through a walk-in, negative red star: a transparent form within the red field, its effect stemming from its emptiness, constantly reconstituted by the movement and perception of visitors. For the publishers, "What's beautiful and surprising about the star in the exhibition is that it's negative. The field is red, and the star is white and transparent. This is the best Red Star at the moment. You can walk through it; it's transparent, it's colorless, but everyone knows it's red. You can fill it with people, with movement, and everyone says, 'There's a Red Star,' even though it isn't."

Credits

Concept, Design, Planning : Boris Banozic

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Construction Planning, Production: Matthias Schwarz
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Photography: Jürgen Zeller

Awards

iF communication design award 2011