The child in man: tour of the Schallaburg exhibition

2023-07-29 16:00:02

Even the sign on the bank of the small pond at the entrance to the Schallaburg makes you smile. “Being a child means asking every five minutes if you’re already there.” Until November 6, the Renaissance palace will open 15 rooms in order to trace the ever-changing facets of a phase of life in twelve chapters that marks the beginning: being a child.

Darling, they’ve shrunk the visitors, one wants to exclaim in the first room. The orange armchair would have to be climbed. The socket approaches the size of a toilet lid. Two human figures whose upper bodies disappear into the ceiling appear monstrous. This equipment reveals that the world is made for adults – and children’s perception of the environment is different.

Interactive stations appeal to young and old alike, exhibits, whether historical or contemporary, and chapter themes confront one’s own childhood. Some are still living through them, others are digging them out of memory. Follow my pictures in mind.

Mode: Up until the end of the 18th century, aristocratic offspring were dressed in fine materials that served little to encourage movement. Even as a tot who was ordered to go to church in a tie with an elasticated collar, you felt compelled to be a small adult.

School: School curricula help to determine what children should learn for life. Discipline, manners, authority and punctuality were once paramount. 1970, second grade elementary school. We haven’t been good, Kurti and I. So we had detention. The teacher briefly left the classroom. Time enough to escape through the window. We didn’t get a plus for it, the kurti and I.

Fantasies: The imagination is unbridled, especially in childhood. In this phase I was able to swing up in dreams with violent flapping of my arms and circle in the air. Sketches were made with cousin Christian of how to give wings to a weapon wheel. But imagination also fueled fears. Who dared to go to the toilet when an eerie noise at the apartment door bought the nerve? How good that there was the washing up.

Parents: Encourage, challenge, overwhelm, protect, pave the way to a place in society? The relationship between educators and educators is changing. While children used to be sent to school on a mile-long march, today it is not uncommon for helicopter parents to circle above them, playing taxis. “Look, that’s okay,” we often heard, and so the ideas that drove us remained hidden from the adult world: stealing a few cherries in front of the grocer’s shop as a test of courage; the deep drag on a smoldering liana accompanied by a cough (because smoking was cool, we already practiced that with the chewing gum cigarettes); the wild skirmishes between robbers and gendarmes or cowboys and Indians (yes, back then you might still mime a Native American without hesitation); and if you came home with a bloody knee, it was simply said: “Until you get married, it’ll be fine.”

The inspiring show spans a term that is subject to constant change – from a time when children meant wealth because their labor power was used to the present day, in which the playful pastime is often shifted to virtual spaces.

Go there, watch, play along and immerse yourself ( once more) in your own childhood.

Exhibition: “Being a child”, Schallaburg, until November 6, 2023; Mon–Fri 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Sat, Sun, public holidays 9 a.m.–6 p.m.; Adults 14 euros, children/teenagers (6-18 years) 4, families 14 or 28 euros
schallaburg.at

Memories of Empress Elisabeth’s childhood: a milk tooth that she already had when she was born; today growing up is documented with thousands of digital photos.
Image: Klaus Pichler