Introduction

For the first time, the Kunsthalle zu Kiel was presenting the complete series of The Books by the award-winning artist Annette Kelm (*1975). In about 100 works, the Berlin-based artist explores books that fell victim to defamation campaigns, persecution and bans imposed by the National Socialist regime between 1933 and 1945.

With her precise, simple photographic presentation, Kelm creates a new or ongoing public platform for the works of once ostracised writers, illustrators, and publishers, and of the extraordinary artistic and literary diversity of the Weimar Republic and the period before it. At the same time, Annette Kelm transfers this subject matter into the current time.

Her work touches on pressing issues about the value and fragility of democratic models of society, the need to protect freedom of expression and intellectual and artistic diversity, and the potential threats posed to these values by right-wing forces.