MASCULINE – FEMININE

Frauenchiemsee and Herrenchiemsee as two close neighbours, islands that are linked yet separate: this symbolism stimulates thought games no less than does the extreme difference in personality of the two historical protagonists who left their mark on the places. On the one hand the imperial princess Irmingard, spiritual and yet open to the world, devoted to love for, and communication with, her fellow human beings; on the other, Ludwig II, the reclusive and withdrawn king of Bavaria, tormented by his homosexual inclinations, slipping away into the nowhere land of imaginary fairytale realms.

The 2007 Herrenchiemsee Festival was devoted to this ambivalence, and with it at the same time to the tensions and liaisons of masculine and feminine culture generally.