Students at Mainz University of Applied Sciences and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) open the gates of the LyricsLab

It is at night that the LyricsLab opens its gates. On the first two days in July, visitors will be able to follow a trail through the staircases, corridors and secret chambers of the buildings of Mainz University of Applied Sciences in Holzstrasse and gain an insight into the world of double meanings and compact verbal communication. A walk at dusk in an eerily romantic atmosphere, a visit to the cellars to view Else Lasker-Schüler's blue piano, a brief stop for refreshments at the Anna Blume buffet - 400 years of German verse history can be experienced here in writing, images, sound, and interactive installations. "We want to get our visitors moving," said project initiators, Guest Professor Susanne Maier-Staufen (Mainz University of Applied Sciences) and Dr. Kerstin Rüther (JGU), "so we designed a counter-model to the traditional literature exhibition, with its rows of display cases full of first editions and poets' reliquaries, only relieved by explanatory sign boards."

This is why Mainz University of Applied Sciences and JGU have entered into an unusual joint venture. During the 2011 summer semester, students at the German Institute of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and those from the interior design course of Mainz University of Applied Sciences can register for a seminar in which poems are not only read and annotated, but also analyzed from the point of view of their artistic implementation. From Christian Hoffmann von Hoffmannswaldau to Paul Celan - the students not only develop spatial and sound installations for individual texts, but also the exhibition concept as a whole provides an interactive program brochure and explanatory guided tours, among other things. "Creativity and one's own initiative are increasingly required in academic teaching," said Professor Stephan Jolie, Dean of the Philosophy and Philology department at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. "It's impressive to see what students can do when all you do is provide them with an opportunity to show you."

Professor Gerhard Muth, President of Mainz University of Applied Sciences, added: "A joint venture such as this shows how the University and University of Applied Sciences can jointly fill the city's educational and communication space. We have committed ourselves to this goal for the future."

This interdisciplinary project was triggered by the "City of Science 2011" initiative, a distinction awarded to the state capital Mainz by the Donors' Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany, which has already changed the image of research and science in this urban center. "When the aim is to present science outside the lecture rooms and laboratories and to bring it closer to the public, many people tend to think about the natural sciences first. However, the portfolio of courses taught at the University and University of Applied Sciences is far broader, and I am, therefore, particularly pleased that during our year as the "City of Science 2011" we also have a lot of projects, such as the LyricsLab, which originate in the fields of the humanities and design," said Mayor Jens Beutel.