Das Hannover des Kurt Schwitters

Shortly after the end of the First World War, the Hanover-based artist Kurt Schwitters presented a collage in which he had processed the scrap of a piece of writing with the inscription Commerz. He self-confidently declared the second syllable of the word to be the name of his own art movement, his Dadaist overall world view Merz. Schwitters soon achieved international fame through his artistic work and his graphic designs. In relevant works on art history, the city of Hanover is mentioned in a row with the centres of the Dadaist movement in Zurich, Berlin and Paris, above all because of his work. It was here in Hanover that Kurt Schwitters performed his literary works in music halls. It was here that he created the Merzbau in his studio, a walk-in sculpture that continued to grow over the years and eventually sprawled through several rooms of the family flat. And here, one day, a poster with Schwitters' probably best-known poem An Anna Blume was stuck on the advertising columns and caused public discussion.