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Ai Weiwei features at Brothers Grimm museum

August 19, 2015

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is among the international contributors to Kassel's new museum dedicated to the Brothers Grimm. But don't expect to take your picture with Cinderella at this artsy house.

https://p.dw.com/p/1GHfC
A staff member holds her ear up to a Sound Installation in the new Brothers Grimm Museum in Kassel, Copyright: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Pförtner
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Pförtner

The central German city of Kassel is a rather sleepy village where Wilhem and Jacob Grimm lived on multiple occasions and worked as librarians for a short time in the early 19th century - though they also spent time in Göttingen, Berlin and other cities.

But it was in Kassel that the duo started working on their "Children's and Household Fairytales" as well as their "German Dictionary," which contained 318,000 words.

Kassel is best known for its international art exhibition, Documenta, which has taken place every five years for the past six decades - so it's not surprising that the city's new Brothers Grimm Museum has a distinctly artistic flair.

Opening on September 4, 2015, the 20-million-euro ($22-million) newly constructed museum will open to the public. It expects to welcome 80,000 visitors per year.

The exhibition includes original documents from the Grimms' estate, but also works by Documenta artists which were inspired by the fairytale makers. Ai Weiwei's "Colored Roots 2009-2015," an installation of five brightly painted tree roots, was a gift from the artist to the city of Kassel.

Click through the gallery above for more artistic highlights from the Brothers Grimm Museum.

kbm/jgt (with dpa)

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