Realisation
ZOOM Kindermuseum
Curators
Herbert Lachmayer, Elisabeth Menasse-Wiesbauer, Katharina Oder
Exhibition Architecture
Renate Martin & Andreas Donhauser
Graphic Design
Barbara Mungenast
Age Group
6 - 12
Opening
04.04. 2006
Duration
04.04. - 03.09.2006
Prolonged until 14.11.2006
Place
ZOOM - Kindermuseum
MuseumsQuartier, Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Vienna
Registration
Phone: +43-1-524 79 08
E-mail: reservierung@kindermuseum.at
Web
www.kindermuseum.at
www.daponte.at
www.wienmozart2006.at
For information about the MuseumsQuartier Wien, please see:
www.mqw.at |
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Wolfgang Amadé - A Perfectly Normal Wunderkind
Exhibition in the ZOOM Children’s Museum The exhibition in the ZOOM Children‘s Museum focuses on Mozart the child and Mozart the wunderkind. The exhibition reveals the “elemental“ child behind the often idealised figure of Mozart: the cheeky Wolfgang Amadé, the disciplined piano-playing automaton, the precocious composer and lover of ambiguous wordplay, the well-behaved boy genius, the dapper little musician of Court society, the self-possessed, provocative young rascal. The differences between the way children were raised in Mozart‘s time and the present day are illustrated by means of aspects of everyday life: clothing, grooming, hygiene, punishment etc.
Travel is a topic that is of special interest in Mozart‘s biography. Mozart spent most of his childhood travelling through half of Europe. In those days, travel not only meant extreme hardships, but also broadened the mind and served as an opportunity for acquiring knowledge and learning to behave in society. For the young Mozart, his travels were literally his education.
In Mozart‘s time, games were very important for both children and adults. Games and experiments with ideas - whether on philosophical, scientific, moral, or even erotic topics - largely dominated conversation and social entertainment. Mozart‘s intelligence was developed in part by these games for young and old, which honed his quick wits and his willingness to take risks and to experiment. Plays on ideas and on words, the wealth of variation in his music, and a penchant for slipping into other characters and social roles typified Mozart‘s social and artistic imagination.
Most of the music featured in the exhibition is drawn from Mozart‘s early works, which he wrote before he was twelve years old. Visitors will have the opportunity to hear Mozart‘s music and also to try out musical instruments for themselves and even - with the help of new technology - to compose their own melodies.
The exhibition is designed to resemble a huge stage on which the late 18th-century worlds of experience, emotion, and knowledge take palpable shape in the form of spaces and scenarios for play, experimental and interactive installations, computer simulations, and fascinating theatrical vistas with stage sets and special effects. The central design element is that of the stage set, with an illusion in the form of a painted baroque or rococo façade on the front and disillusionment in the form of sackcloth and stage technology at the back. The exhibition is suitable for children aged 6 to 12.
ZOOM Children‘s Museum
The ZOOM Children‘s Museum lets its visitors ask questions, touch exhibits, research, explore and play to their heart‘s content. Covering a total of 1500 square metres, the ZOOM Children‘s Museum contains four different sections for children up to the age of 14: the exhibition proper, which presents major topics in a way that makes them accessible to children aged 7 to 12; the Studio, where children aged 3 to 12 can get involved with artistic issues through play; the ZOOMLab, where young people aged 8 to 14 with no prior technical experience can experiment with animated films, 3-D spaces, and sound; and the Ocean, a varied play area for children aged between 8 months and 6 years.
A co-production by ZOOM Children‘s Museum, Da Ponte Institute, and WIENER MOZARTJAHR 2006
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