Whether in the Festhalle, at the Book Fair, at exhibition openings, galas or other events - in Frankfurt, prominent stars always do the honors. And some of them even have their roots in the city or started their careers here. And these well-known personalities are the subject of the new special exhibition "Abgelichtet! Stars in Frankfurt," which can be seen at the Institute for Urban History in Frankfurt until August 28, 2022. Here you can meet screen heroes, sports icons, musical virtuosos, word artists, artists and inventors who came from Frankfurt, worked here or performed here. There really is quite a lot to discover.
Thus, local celebrities such as Liesel Christ, Bernhard Grzimek, Lia Wöhr, Albert Mangelsdorff, Marika Kilius, Kurt Halbritter, Sabrina Setlur, Michael Groß, Steffi Jones, Badesalz, Tankard, Nadja Benaissa can be seen, as well as international celebrities such as Michael Jackson, Helene Fischer, Sylvester Stallone, Elton John or Claudia Schiffer. Thereby not all stars shown in the exhibition are Frankfurters by birth or by choice, but all chose the Main metropolis as a place of action and performance.
"The exhibition and accompanying publication present outstanding images from the Institute's estate and photo collection, drawing particularly on the photographic holdings of the Frankfurter Rundschau, which were taken over by the Institute of Urban History in 2011 and subsequently made accessible for use. It is being presented to the public for the first time in this context and is now putting numerous stars in the spotlight," says Alexandra Lutz, director of the archive and acting director of the Institute of City History.
A flurry of flashbulbs greets visitors at the entrance plaque: Not a star is in the poster-giving motive in the center, but a group of excited photographers, taken about 1960, with their then still large flash units. Who were they waiting for, which star did they want to photograph? The question remains open, and the motif makes it clear: "The exhibition not only sheds light on the stars photographed and their relationship to Frankfurt, but also on those who made them stars: the photographers, the modern mass media and the fans," says curator Markus Häfner, head of the Public Relations Department at the Institute for Urban History, explaining the idea behind the exhibition, which focuses on the 20th century. Century, in which the development of the mass media made the establishment of a Startums possible.
At several media stations Frankfurt stars speak about their relationship to their hometown. To hear and see are for example Nadja Benaissa of the No Angels, Andreas "Gerre" Geremia of Tankard, swimmer Michael large or footballer Steffi Jones. In addition, the Institute for Urban History shows old film treasures with actor Carl Luley, theater director Fritz Rémond or Nobel Prize winner Otto Hahn.
In the showcases, visitors can see numerous objects from the Institute of Urban History's estate collection, such as a youth portrait by Liesel Christ or musical equipment by Albert Mangelsdorff, as well as loans such as swimming trunks from Olympic swimming champion Michael Groß, a tennis racket from Steffi Graf, the Bravo Otto from Nadja Benaissa or a guitar from Tankard guitarist Andreas Gutjahr, which the band used for its performance at the DFB Cup final in Berlin.
Admission to the exhibition is free. It is regularly open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Until Easter 2022, it will be open as early as 10 a.m. on weekend days and until 8 p.m. on Wednesdays. Opening hours on holidays can be found at www.stadtgeschichte-ffm.de.
Further information on the exhibition and the extensive accompanying program, as well as the current opening hours and supplementary content on the show, can be found at www.stadtgeschichte-ffm.de
