Image Brochure - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

Once Around the World, the new image brochure, takes readers on a journey through a wide range of times, places, and stories involving SPK.

Once Around the World,the new image brochure, takes readers on a journey through a wide range of times and places. Along with stories on the secrets contained in well-known and unknown objects, it features a photographic walk from Museumsinsel (Museum Island) past the Kulturforum and Charlottenburg to Dahlem, providing insights into the museums, libraries, and archives of SPK.

Direct, interdisciplinary, and across collections, the image brochure presents the work of the museums, libraries, archives, and research institutes. Curators, archivers, scientists, and librarians discuss the focal points and challenges of their work in fields that affect everyone such as digitization, research, education, mediation, provenance research, and international cultural exchange. These interdisciplinary get-togethers convey an idea of SPK’s potential as a multi-disciplinary cultural global player in the age of interconnectivity.

The last part of the brochure shows what celebrities love about SPK – the actress Bibiana Beglau, organist Cameron Carpenter, author Rafael Cardoso, or Detroit Symphony Orchestra conductor Robin Ticciati talk about their favorite pieces in the SPK institutions. Along with all of these stories from SPK, of course there is an overview of all five SPK facilities that includes facts & figures and contexts.

The folded out back cover of the accordion-fold brochure shows a timeline from the beginnings of humankind to the present. From a 4^th-century BC rolling seal to the contemporary sculpture Conchita Wurst on the Crescent, works from all the Foundation’s institutions trace the cultural and sociopolitical developments and achievements of humanity. 

Designed by BUREAU Mario Lombardo, the brochure was made possible by the Kuratorium Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation Board of Trustees).

Press samples can be ordered from pressestelle@hv.spk-berlin.de.

From Hermann Parzinger’s foreword:

“Scientists travel great distances to do research in the Geheimen Staatsarchiv (Prussian Privy State Archives) in Dahlem, in the Ibero-Amerikanischen Institut (Ibero-American Institute), or in the museums’ many collections. Countless unique works of art and culture from all times and across all continents can be experienced in our collections and storerooms. They stir the emotions and awaken curiosity, but they do not communicate their fascinating stories by themselves. We want to tell these stories in a new and completely modern way. Our digital age is both an opportunity and a challenge. It is the Foundation’s task to research and preserve all of these objects, pictures, writings, and musical instruments. Even more, we want to leverage digital transformation as a means of opening ourselves up, making open access to cultural objects possible and promoting the dissemination and connectivity of knowledge. Most of all, we want to integrate people into the SPK cosmos anew. We must develop new forms of communication, participation, outreach, and mediation for the digital world.

In the process, we will create channels and programs that will bring our institutions to the forefront as places of dialogue. We are transforming art and culture into experiences and connecting them to people’s everyday lives. 

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We want to show you what there is to discover here – but most of all, how we work and what we are working on now. You’ll see: The Foundation offers a cornucopia of ideas and projects that reach far into the future, and it provides a variety of opportunities for cooperation and participation. Come and join the conversation, and let the SPK treasures and programs inspire you to accompany us on this voyage of discovery.

We look forward to welcoming you!”

Hermann Parzinger, President of the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz