"Humboldt Forum. Das Projekt / The Project": Thomas Flierl and Hermann Parzinger present their new publication
Press release from 07/06/2009
Over the next few years, the Humboldt Forum, a new type of cultural and knowledge centre, will be built on Schlossplatz in Berlin's historic centre. The new book, published by "Theater der Zeit", provides a comprehensive history of the Humboldt Forum project. It outlines the current state of planning and formulates the expectations of the public and professional circles. Critical voices also have their say. Several chapters are dedicated to international experiences in the presentation of world cultures.
Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, says: "Together with the exhibition in the Altes Museum, the book will further strengthen the necessary public interest in the ambitious Humboldt Forum project. Its multifaceted contributions provide information on the history of the project, the architectural decision and the content concepts. They contain many suggestions for the further planning process, visualise the enormous opportunities and potential and formulate expectations. The book should be seen as an invitation to participate in this enormously dynamic process of developing the Humboldt Forum and to help shape it. It is intended to advertise and arouse curiosity about what is being created in Berlin's historic centre, something that is based on the history and different traditions of our country and at the same time has completely new goals in mind."
Thomas Flierl, MdA, publicist and former senator, explains: "Now that the architectural debate has been settled, the question of what the Humboldt Forum should actually be in the future is finally moving to the centre of public interest. It can be denied that the visionary Humboldt Forum project ever had a chance as a proposal for a federal cultural policy. Only the saving idea of the Humboldt Forum in the palace led out of the blockade of palace and palace supporters, historians and modernists. Now, however, the Humboldt Forum must develop its own content. The real challenge for politicians still lies ahead: the invention and realisation of the new institution of cultures and knowledge, the Humboldt Forum. It is not through decisions on demolition and façades, but through project development and the financial and institutional organisation of the Humboldt Forum as a meaningful new communicative centre of the capital that will prove whether federal policy is capable of such a "grand projet". With our book, we want to make a constructive contribution to this."
Humboldt Forum. Das Projekt / The Project. Edited by Thomas Flierl, Hermann Parzinger. German/English. Softcover with 288 pages. Price: 28 euros (museum edition 18 euros). ISBN 978-3-940737-39-7 Available in bookshops, museum shops and from the publisher "Theater der Zeit".
Includes contributions by Nikolaus Bernau, Philip V. Bohlman (Chicago), Klaus Brake, Jean-Louis Cohen (Paris), Michael Eissenhauer, Bruno Flierl, Thomas Flierl, Yves Le Fur (Paris), Raffael Gadebusch, Barbara Göbel, Adrienne Goehler, Giorgio Grassi (Milan), Monika Griefahn, Monika Grütters, Thomas Hauschild, Christine v. Heinz, Stephen Inglis (Ottawa), Wolfgang Kaschuba, Wolfgang Kil, Udo Kittelmann, Eduard Kögel, Viola König, Dieter Kosslick, Thomas Krüger, Peter Kulka, Arno Lederer, Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, Wolf Lepenies, Rudolf Prinz zur Lippe, Valerij Pavlovich Lukin (St. Petersburg), Albert Lutz (Zurich), Claudia Lux, Christoph Markschies, Gesa zur Nieden, Michael Oppitz, Philipp Oswalt, Hans-Joachim Otto, Hermann Parzinger, Petra Pau, Hanno Rauterberg, Jette Sandahl (Copenhagen), Jochen Sandig, Bernd M. Scherer, Michael Schindhelm (Dubai), André Schmitz, Klaus Schneider, Georg Schütte, Hans Stimmann, Günter Stock, Hortensia Völckers, Antje Vollmer, Sasha Waltz and Sarah Zalfen. Also design texts by the prizewinners Eccheli e Campagnola, Reimar Herbst + Angelika Kunkler, Jan Kleihues, Hans Kollhoff, Johannes Kuehn, Christoph Mäckler, Franco Stella, Sergei Tchoban.
For review copies please contact:
Verlag Theater der Zeit
Paul Tischler
Tel. 030 2423 626
Fax: 030 24722415
E-mail