It's also lucky if you somehow have the feeling you've taken a wrong turn and then the curator of the exhibition, Florian Waldvogel, runs into you. He developed the exhibition together with Thomas Thiel, the director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Siegen.
Incidentally, you can see his appointment as curator (and head of the modern collection) from a distance, but perhaps it's the helpful explanations where we now come back to the actual course of the exhibition. But we didn't make a completely wrong turn, the open door to the permanent exhibition was intentional and refers to the room in which it smells of smallpox.
Once around the corner, in fact, is Albin Egger-Lienz's monster painting "The Cross", which shows Father Haspinger leading the rebellious peasants against Napoleon. And now historical prior knowledge is required! Because the context only becomes clear when you know how rebelliously the Tyroleans fought against the smallpox vaccination. Bavaria, on the other hand, was the first country in the world to introduce the (effective) original form of smallpox vaccination. "And how does smallpox smell then?", I ask Mr. Waldvogel, somewhat confused. "They don't smell at all," he explains with a grin. Back to the beginning, then, and onward in the jungle of smells, which definitely become more intense than before in the further rooms.
At this point, however, I don't want to anticipate too much about the exhibition. Not everything smells good, some things are a bit uncomfortable. But don't we like to go to museums to experience this discomfort in a world dominated by comfort zones, soul foods and feelgood playlists?