The Foundation Welt der Versuchungen is the initiator of a new exhibition centre that is situated at the intersection of science and art. It focuses on temptations old and new and addictions – from drugs to social media – in order to illuminate them from the perspective of related scientific fields, such as health research, and from the arts. The new house is thus pursuing an innovative approach to addiction prevention.
The German Bundestag has enabled this project with 20 million euros. It is also supported by grants from the Thuringian Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Women and Family and has been developed in cooperation with the Prevention Centre of the addiction support services in Thuringia. The task of addiction prevention is to help people to become mature and to lead healthy and free lives. The question of how this undertaking can succeed has still not been clearly answered.
As a living space, the exhibition centre takes an interdisciplinary approach. This collaboration between artists and experts from different disciplines will result in a transitory gathering of minds that does not abolish disciplinary boundaries entirely, but perhaps sets them aside for a brief, productive moment.
This in turn creates new connections and opens up previously unknown prospects for the future. Light and shadow are illuminated: On the one hand, the longing for a change of consciousness, boundless freedom or simply the desire to get one’s life back; on the other, a search for thrills and the compulsion that goes with it.
The focus is on themes such as consumption and loss of control, as well as mindfulness, health and identity. Exhibitions and programmes explore these issues from both a historical and contemporary perspective in the contexts of society, science and art. They invite people of all ages to reflect and enable spontaneous encounters across all social groups.
The exhibitions are accompanied by education programmes and tailored to the respective target groups. These programmes include visual and practical workshops – the results of which could include writing a rap, comic or video – lectures and debates, concerts and performances, as well as further training for multipliers.
Addiction has been a social issue for decades and is still critical today. The consumption of tobacco and alcohol was curbed prior to the coronavirus pandemic through a series of measures. Nevertheless, in Germany as in other countries, more and more addictive substances – legal and illegal – are becoming more readily available. Demand is increasing across all levels of society. Behavioural addictions such as eating, gambling and shopping addictions now play an equally significant role as workaholism or social-media addiction.
The question follows: what happens in our brains and bodies during intoxication? With all addictive substances and actions, neurotransmitters in the brain ensure a change in consciousness and thus control our behaviour. When the reward and pleasure centres are activated, we feel happy and satisfied. And who among us is not in search of feelings of happiness and well-being?
When does an evening glass of wine, shopping, one’s eating habits or being online become pathological? When does the high turn into a crash? And are there alternatives to a feeling of happiness without the occasional blues? How can the desire for intoxication without risk be integrated into our lives? And where do the terms ‘addiction’, ‘longing’, ‘seeking’ and ‘temptation’ intersect? These questions are complex and motivate people young and old to find answers.
The theme of this exhibition centre concerns (almost) all of us. An honest and intergenerational discourse has been opened – in Erfurt, in Thuringia and beyond Germany.
THE IMPLEMENTATION PHASE HAS BEGUN
With the Erfurt City Council’s decision on a location, permitting the construction of a new building in the centre of Thuringia’s capital, the Foundation Welt der Versuchungen has reached another milestone in realising its initiative to create an innovative exhibition centre. The centrally located Huttenplatz is a fitting site for creating the modern and sustainable building that will house the exhibition centre in future. “With Huttenplatz we have found a place in Erfurt that is centrally located. A modern exhibition centre here at this site enhances the image of this area as a portal to the city centre,” said Erfurt’s mayor Andreas Bausewein at the foundation’s press conference on 13 February 2023.
Architecturally – but also in terms of content – the centre made possible by the federal government and supported by the Thuringia’s Ministry of Work, Social Affairs, Health, Women and Family has entered into its implementation phase. Its opening is planned for the autumn of 2026.
“Temptations loom large – particularly in our consumerist society. We are all subject to this pressure, which leads people to reach for the bottle or other drugs and become unable to maintain control of them,” says Carsten Schneider, Minister of State and Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Germany. “This foundation will set new standards in the field of addiction prevention in Germany.”
The centre devotes attention to the theme of health and addiction in a new way. Content is developed in an interdisciplinary process, with scientists and artists thinking it through together – a concept that has never been seen before in Germany or Europe. With the federal government, the state of Thuringia and the city of Erfurt, the Foundation Welt der Versuchungen has three strong partners at its side as it realises of this model project.
The goal of the Foundation Welt der Versuchungen is to create a centre that will examine the theme of addiction in a multi-perspectival way, continuously provide surprises and deal with current issues in a cutting-edge manner. It will offer new possibilities for reflecting on addiction and living well and for initiating debates about these topics – among young people, in families, in schools and among experts.
“We have to thematise the social problem of addiction in order to be able to reach society in a preventative, integrative and interactive sense. A centre like this can make it possible to successfully launch a new societal discussion about drugs and addiction as well as intoxication and health consequences. The ‘Welt der Versuchungen’ is a catalyst for advancing the development of addiction prevention in Germany,” emphasises Burkhard Blienert, the Federal Government’s Drug and Addiction Commissioner.
Thuringia’s Minister of Health Heike Werner adds: “It’s all about doing addiction prevention that has lasting effects. The ‘Welt der Versuchungen’ will form an important building block in this context – with the distinctive feature that it’s a genuinely innovative concept.”
First Exhibition in the Autumn
The Foundation Welt der Versuchungen has also been able to move a step further in terms of developing its formats for presenting content. Until the new centre opens, they will be showing one smaller-format exhibition per year: these will help the exhibition organisers to learn which content works well and can be transferred to the centre.
The first exhibition, “On a Night Trip”, can be seen from 20 October to 10 December 2023 in the “Defensionskaserne” on Erfurt’s Petersberg hill. It looks at nightlife, and the contrast provided by this foil is used to better reveal how we function in our everyday lives. Susanne Rockweiler, Chief Curator of the Foundation Welt der Versuchungen points out: “Concerts, clubs and parties are longed-for sites for shared experiences of music and with music. They are free and creatives spaces and sites of emancipation. ‘On a Night Trip’ examines nightlife as a collective experience. Scene, sound and image also explore its diverse societal, social and aesthetic links in the context of ecstasy, identity/identities, resilience and safer clubbing. They launch a discussion about health in the context of partying and the ability to consume responsibly in the middle of society: new, surprising, experimental.”
Images below:
1) Speakers at the “Welt der Versuchungen” Foundation’s press conference (l to r): Carsten Schneider, Minister of State and Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Germany; Dr Susanne Rockweiler, Chief Curator of the “Welt der Versuchungen” Foundation; Heike Werner, Thuringian Minister of Health; Burkhard Blienert, the Federal Government’s Drug and Addiction Commissioner; Frank Sonnabend, initiator of the “Defensionskaserne”; Andreas Bausewein, Mayor of Erfurt; and Thomas Bader, Chairman of the Foundation Board
2) Members of the media at the press conference
3) (L to R) Burkhard Blienert, the Federal Government’s Drug and Addiction Commissioner; Heike Werner, Thuringian Minister of Health; Dr Susanne Rockweiler, Chief Curator of the “Welt der Versuchungen” Foundation; Carsten Schneider, Minister of State and Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Germany; and Andreas Bausewein, Mayor of Erfurt, at the press conference about the location of the new exhibition centre in Erfurt, viewing the first architectural designs for the centre, which were created by children, school pupils and university students
4) Panel of speakers at the press conference
