The Cold Heart

The Kunstmuseum Stuttgart presents a show at the Kunstgebäude on Schlossplatz that places Wilhelm Hauff’s fairy tale The Cold Heart (1827) in dialogue with contemporary art for the first time.

In The Cold Heart, published posthumously, the Stuttgart-born writer Wilhelm Hauff (1802–1827) intertwines the aspirations of his protagonist Peter Munk for social mobility and personal self-realization with the profound transformations brought about by early industrialization. These shifts not only reconfigured economic and social structures but also left lasting marks on landscapes and ways of life. The fairy tale reveals how emerging capitalism generated new conceptions of the individual and their place within society. The hero’s journey into the mythical spirit world of the Black Forest becomes an allegory for an era caught between the promise of progress and existential doubt. Hauff describes the impoverishment of entire craft professions under the pressure of industrial competition, as well as the excesses of financial speculation, usury, and the ruthless exploitation of natural resources—symptoms of a time that had fallen out of moral and economic balance.

Two centuries after its publication, The Cold Heart remains remarkably relevant. Its central themes resonate in a present where authoritarian and reactionary forces are once again on the rise, and the fragile relationship between humans and nature grows increasingly strained. The presentation brings the literary source to life in a contemporary form, revisiting its principal ideas across diverse artistic approaches and connecting them to global social debates.

Hauff’s fairy tale enters into dialogue with contemporary art, inviting varied readings and interpretations. The show offers fresh perspectives on the core elements of the romantic Black Forest saga, which also define its thematic framework: identity, violence and healing, affect, and ecological exploitation. On view are international loans, works from the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart collection—including paintings of Swabian Romanticism—two newly commissioned productions, and a performance created specifically for the occasion. Selected archival materials, including items from the German Literature Archive in Marbach, trace the tale’s reception history, from the Weimar Republic and National Socialism to the GDR and contemporary reinterpretations, most recently at the Berlin State Opera.

One thematic section addresses questions of ecological exploitation through the figure of the “Holländer-Michel.” Wilhelm Hauff conceived this character against the backdrop of the large-scale deforestation of the Black Forest in the early nineteenth century, driven in large part by Dutch shipbuilding. Late Romantic paintings by Friedrich von Keller are juxtaposed with works by Erik Sturm and Troika, which critically examine the fraught relationships between humans, technology, and nature, as well as their representation in Western art history.

Another thematic section turns to the protagonist’s quest for identity, traced through his transformations and crises, and approached here particularly through queer and feminist perspectives. Works by Tracey Emin and Rosemarie Trockel challenge traditional gender roles and reveal the power structures embedded within them. Two site-specific commissions by Nora Turato and Julius Pristauz directly reference Hauff’s fairy tale, investigating language as a medium of social attribution and exploring processes of identity formation in a highly mediated contemporary context.

Violence and healing constitute a central theme in Hauff’s narrative: the protagonist’s bargain, in which he trades his own heart for material gain, marks the loss of empathy. This theme extends into the present. Jenny Holzer’s photographic prints, created in response to sexualized violence during the Kosovo War, reveal how violence inscribes itself into language and perpetuates through it. Kader Attia’s wooden sculptures and mirror objects engage with the legacy of colonial violence, exploring wounding and healing as processes that are both social and continuous.

The final thematic section engages with the central role of affect in Hauff’s fairy tale. With the loss of his emotions, the protagonist—despite his newfound material wealth—descends into social isolation. Rasmus Myrup translates the dialectic nature of affect into a sculptural language that simultaneously conveys emotional withdrawal and vulnerability. In his video works, Jesper Just employs vocal expression, gesture, and facial expression to expose stereotypical roles and their embedded emotional codings.

A free publication accompanying the show includes additional texts, an essay by the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize-nominated author Fatima Khan, and new papercuts by Sonja Yakovleva, which explore the heart as both a fetish and a commodity.

Artists
Kader Attia, Tracey Emin, Jakob Grünenwald, Jenny Holzer, Jesper Just, Friedrich von Keller, Rasmus Myrup, Gabriela Oberkofler, Julius Pristauz, Ricarda Roggan, Erik Sturm, Pol Taburet, Rosemarie Trockel, Troika, Nora Turato

Curator 
Dierk Höhne
Curatorial assistant
Anne Odenthal

Supported by
Ministry of Science, Research and Arts Baden-Württemberg
Mondriaan Fund
Danish Arts Foundation

Events
Opening: April 17, 7–11pm, free admission

code/switch: April 18, 5–6pm
Performance by Julius Pristauz and Fran Klein

code/switch: October 2, 5–6pm
Performance by Julius Pristauz and Fran Klein

Artist talk with Julius Pristauz: October 3, 4–6pm
The artist in conversation with curator Dierk HöhneKunstgebäude Stuttgart
Schlossplatz 2, Stuttgart 70173, Germany