The Haunted Screens: German Cinema in the 1920s, on view at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from September 21, 2014 to April 26, 2015, displayed film clips, photographs, posters, documents, and cameras representing 25 films, 20 artists, and 14 directors from the Weimar Republic Era.  Designed by Michael Maltzan and Amy Murphy, the exhibition balanced visitor movement, subtle lighting, impactful graphics, and enriching sound elements, while embracing the aesthetic themes, historic context, and most importantly, the curatorial interpretation of the objects.

The exhibition was organized around five primary curatorial themes including Madness and Magic; Myths and Legends; Cities and Streets; Machines and Murderers; and a sub-section within Machines and Murderers called Stairs.  The bold architectural abstraction, strong forms, choreographed movement, and inventive juxtaposition were a contemporary complement to the collection. The designers engaged the objects through a series of forms and spaces that highlighted the simultaneous and often overlapping worlds of art, film, and design without mimicking the iconic aesthetic of the period.

The exhibition’s architectural elements created a symbolic undulating dialogue between dark and light, inside and out, space and form, rupture and unity, most evident in the “carpet” which was at once a floor, a ceiling, and a wall.  Its form rolled itself through the gallery as if shaken out, creating caverns in its undersides that were transformed into darkened screening rooms, which allowed the films to remain true to their form and to be seen within their ‘natural’ context. Open spaces filled with columns contrasted the dark tunnels which displayed a wide range of works on paper, books, and posters, each within their own thematic context. The interplay between the framed pieces and the selected film excerpts created two interconnected but distinct sets of objects.