EXHIBITIONS
Exhibitions 2007
In hot pursuit ... Master Detectives in the Museum
An exhibition for children aged 4 to 14
March 9 to January 31, 2008
Children love mysteries, especially when the detectives themselves are children. Whether a series, feature film, cartoon or interactive mystery – it’s hard to imagine German television without children’s detective stories. At its best, this genre combines exciting entertainment and an educational message without wagging a finger at anyone.
But what fascinates children about the world of crime, and why do they often want to be detectives themselves? How do these junior detectives go about investigating? What distinguishes them from adult investigators? Who are their role models? And last but not least: how has television approached children’s detective stories and which German television series are typical for the genre?
These questions and many others are the focus of the exhibition “Auf heissen Spuren … Meisterdetektive im Museum”.
Before kids enter the exhibition, they can take a test to find out which sort of detective they are. Afterwards, they’ll be in the right mood to meet the first fictional child detective: Emil Tischbein, a character created in 1929 by Erich Kästner for his novel Emil und die Detektive / Emil and the Detectives – a work which was later adapted for the screen many times. With this book, Kästner established a new genre, one in which children solve crimes and track down criminals. This shift in perspective was accompanied by another central feature of children’s detective stories: investigation is teamwork, and this makes friendship essential to the plot.
These elements were taken up and elaborated on by two of the most successful children book authors of all times: Enid Blyton (The Famous Five) and Astrid Lindgren (Master Detective Blomquist). The stories, both written in the 1940s, no longer advocate obedience but independence and self-confidence. With determination, courage and cleverness, children apply themselves to the task of fighting for justice and against crime. And this is still the case today. German TV series like EIN FALL FÜR B.A.R.Z., DIE PFEFFERKÖRNER (The Peppercorns) or TKKG are modeled after these tales, as are detective stories for younger kids like EIN FALL FÜR FREUNDE (Friends) or DREI DSCHUNGELDETEKTIVE.
All the same: the undisputed prototype of all detectives, from Kalle Blomquist to Detective Conan, is Sherlock Holmes – and this is also true for the few children’s mysteries produced in the GDR.
In the exhibition, young visitors will encounter detectives in a wide range of media: in footage from films, books, radio plays, even games. In the early years, successful material and characters were promoted in card and board games, while today popular role models are marketed in a complex cross-media system: computer games, the Internet, ringtones, tattoos, clothes, stickers, comics and stationery are now all part of the usual media package. Items are exhibited to illustrate this phenomenon.
Yet youngsters will not just be able to listen, watch and read in this exhibition; they may actually investigate, pursue clues and put together an identikit picture at the scene of a crime: for someone has stolen something from the exhibition room/s! The children are invited to help find the culprit. The reward is a professionally designed detective ID card with the master detective’s photo and name.
While the kids explore this special exhibition, grown-ups can watch their favorite shows from 50 years of German television history in the Program Gallery across the way. And in the small exhibition cinema, the entire family can watch a silent detective film and experience how black-and-white pictures without sound are able to tell the same stories as television series.
