From 16 May to 11 June 2023, the subject area of art at Paderborn University Library is presenting the exhibition "Ich hab' den Farbfilm vergessen – Fotografische Spuren eines Auslandssemesters in Kalifornien". In more than 100 Polaroids, Paderborn art student Marietta Mann captured her semester abroad at California University Stanislaus in the winter semester 2022/23 with an instant camera. Anyone interested is invited to visit the exhibition of these photographs free of charge during the library's opening hours (Monday to Friday from 7.30 a.m. to midnight; Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 8.30 p.m.; closed on public holidays).

"The title of the exhibition plays on Nina Hagen's famous song lyrics, which describe the desire or longing to save the memory of special events and places in the grey everyday life," says Dr. Tim Pickartz from the art subject area, who is curating the exhibition and has arranged the collection of Polaroids in such a way that the viewer can follow the student's travel movements. "California, and San Francisco in particular, are regarded as places of longing for the American dream of freedom and unlimited possibilities. Having grown up during the Gold Rush, the centre of the hippie movement in the Summer of Love and, since the 1970s, the gay scene, the city and the state of California still seem full of colour and light to many people today," explains Pickartz. Colour and light are also central to Marietta Mann's photographs - much more so than the expected motifs of California as a place of longing. The mechanics of the analogue camera and the materiality of the Polaroids led her to surprising results.

Marietta Mann studies Art and Art Education and German Literature at Paderborn University. Paderborn University has been cooperating with California State University Stanislaus since 2019. The exhibition is supported by Prof Dr Sabiene Autsch from the Chair of Art/Art History and its Didactics.

> Exhibition poster

To mark Earth Day on 22 April, posters created in the project seminar "A Visual History of Earth Knowledge" led by Dr Johanna Sackel (Department of Contemporary History) will be exhibited in the University Library.

The image we have of the Earth depends not only on our knowledge of the world, but is also significantly influenced by the representations of "Earth knowledge". The "Warming Stripes" by climatologist Ed Hawkins, for example, are now an integral part of the visual arsenal of climate activism - not least because the illustration conveys complex data knowledge in a clear and concise way and can therefore be used as an argument and reminder in a wide variety of contexts. The "Blue Marble", taken by the crew of Apollo 17 in 1972, had a similarly paradigmatic effect as a symbol of the planet's need for protection.

During the last winter semester, history students explored the question of how knowledge about the Earth was conveyed through visual representations such as maps, pictures, films and graphics in different historical periods and how these representations have shaped our perception and understanding of the Earth. The posters on display in the exhibition illustrate the insight gained in the seminar that visual representations are often used not only to convey knowledge, but also as instruments of power, for example to define and control the Earth and to consciously sponsor political, economic or cultural interests.

The exhibition will open in the entrance area of the University Library on Tuesday 18 April at 13:00. It can be visited until 7 May during the library's opening hours: Monday to Friday: 7:30 am to midnight, Saturday to Sunday: 9:00 am to 8:30 pm (closed on public holidays).

Contact: Dr Johanna Sackel, Department of Contemporary History, Department of History, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, e-mail: johanna.sackel@uni-paderborn.de.

> Exhibition poster