In 1921, the art collector Franz Fromm, who came from the Göttingen region, purchased Villa Freischütz. Most of his wealth derived from the fortune of his wife, Luisa Hilliger Y Vernal. She had been born in Peru as the daughter of the nitrate millionaire Johann Georg Christian Hilliger.
So far, so good. Were it not for the other side of the story—on the other side of the world. The prosperity of Europe’s nitrate barons was built on the exploitation of largely Indigenous migrant workers. Though formally free, they lived and worked under conditions akin to slavery. This exhibition brings these two stories together.
Created exclusively for the exhibition, the Argentine poet Ana Rocío Jouli and the Peruvian poet Juan Ignacio Chávez have written works of “documentary poetry.” Their poems are presented alongside archival materials and objects selected by the poets themselves, integrated into the permanent exhibition amid the splendid collection of art and decorative objects assembled by Franz Fromm.
On the first floor, objects, photographs, and texts trace the connections between the collector’s family and the exploitative nitrate trade, raising the question of how we can live more justly today.
The exhibition was curated by Ariane Karbe, Hannes Obermair, and Laura Steinhilber (assistant curator).
