"Do we need another revolution?" SPK Annual Report 2020 on the pandemic and change published
Press release from 06/17/2021
The 2020 annual report of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation has now been published, somewhat delayed due to the pandemic. The past year was particularly challenging for everyone and, of course, for the SPK - but despite all the adversity, it had its good moments.
The important exhibitions, exciting construction progress, interesting research projects and successful education and outreach activities that took place despite the pandemic and restrictions can be found in the annual report that has now been published: from the exhibition "Germanen. An archaeological survey", the Beethoven Year at the SPK and the MEK's #CollectingCorona campaign. Also: an interview with Barbara Göbel, Director of the Ibero-American Institute (which celebrated its 90th birthday in 2020) on the international joint project MECILA - Maria Sibylla Merian Centre for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences Conviviality-Inequality in Latin America and on the challenges of international cooperation in times of pandemic; as well as detailed figures on the foundation's budget and the visitors and users of all five institutions.
2020 was not only the year of the pandemic for the SPK, but also the year of the announced change. In the summer, the German Council of Science and Humanities presented its report, which triggered a debate about the structure of the SPK. A discussion to which SPK President Hermann Parzinger invited Ulrike Lorenz, President of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, sought to clarify the general future viability of cultural associations, what opportunities the networking of knowledge offers and what certainties remain after the pandemic.
After sixty years, the SPK Annual Report replaced the time-honoured yearbook, which had recorded events at the foundation for eternity since 1958. Lean, up-to-date, discursive - this is how a new print event was launched in 2018. The SPK Annual Report was designed by Andreas Dimmler and Tania Mourinho, with editorial responsibility in the hands of Gesine Bahr and the Media, Communication and Events Department of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.