Through the Dark

Through the Dark.

June-August 2026

Light appears where darkness is interrupted. In mining, darkness was workplace, danger and everyday reality. For queer history, it is also an image for what long remained hidden, overlooked or left unwritten.

The traces are rarely clear-cut. They survive in court records, photographs, memories, songs, rumours and gaps. Whoever looks for them encounters closeness, control, violence, survival and solidarity. Through the Dark turns its gaze to people and relationships that often appear only at the margins of history, but were never absent.

The exhibition is accessible free of charge

from 30 June to 19 July at the location Prettau
from 21 July to 09 August at the location Steinhaus
from 11 August to 30 August at the location Ridnaun

Choose a topic:

Choose a biography:

Concept & curatorship:
Sofia Steger

Scientific direction:
Armin Torggler

Texts:
Sofia Steger

Translations:
Elisa Trenti, Sofia Steger

Digital exhibition design and programming:
Sofia Steger

Special thanks to:
Französisches Nationalarchiv, Boston Public Library, The British Museum, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek,
Library of Congress, Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection, Museo del Carbone Serbariu,
People's History Museum, National Coal Mining Museum, US Holocaust Memorial Museum,
Metropolitan Museum of Arts, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Fondazione Casa Buonarotti, The London Archives,
State Library of Victoria, Philip Halling, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Potsdam Museum,
The Bankroft Library, Thepo B. Maake, Alexander Zinn, The Arolsen Archives,
Landesarchiv Westfalen, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum, Maurice Dobson Museum, Catpics GmbH.