2016 - News - Detail Page - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

As one of the most important cultural building projects in
Germany, the Humboldt Forum is dedicated to bringing together art and the cultures of the world. With
its unique range of museums, libraries and university collections
, the Humboldt Forum will promote dialogue between the sciences and the arts
as well as knowledge transfer and provide a platform for future-oriented topics
and questions.

At the end of 2008, the architectural competition for the construction of the Humboldt Forum
was unanimously decided by the jury in favour of Francesco Stella's design. The
Humboldt Forum will give Berlin's Schlossplatz, a central location of historical
and urban planning significance, a particularly sophisticated function of
international importance.

The collections of the Ethnological Museum and the
Museum of Asian Art of the National Museums in Berlin - Prussian Cultural Heritage will unfold their globally unique wealth in the Humboldt Forum. This will take place in close
alliance with the scientific collections and research facilities of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the media holdings of the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin, which supports educational and information work for all visitor groups.

The Humboldt Forum ideally complements the existing collections of
European cultures and their roots in the Middle East on Museum Island.
Together with the neighbouring libraries and the university campus,
is a lively and exciting meeting place for the cultures of the world in the centre of Berlin.

The three future users of the Humboldt Forum have organised the exhibition "Coming to the world differently: The Humboldt Forum in the Palace. A workshop view". It presents concepts, ideas and methods that will be used in the Humboldt Forum without anticipating a condensed form of the later content.

The current location of the exhibition, the Altes Museum, is particularly suitable for confronting the public here
- opposite the future building site - with the interactions
between non-European cultures and Europe.

It is fundamental for the Humboldt Forum to understand the transformation of cultures, in art
and science, in terms of movement. The exhibition will thematise this on
different levels and present it in the individual exhibition rooms
using the objects and their changing contexts, each in a specific
way. Three major themes will take centre stage:

the history of collecting and handling mostly non-European
objects in Berlin and their significance for the activities of the Humboldt-
Forum;

• the interpretation of museum exhibits from different perspectives;
• the relevance of current research, technologies and mediation strategies.
• In front of the Altes Museum, in the Lustgarten, a series of events and activities as part of the Museum Island Festival will contextualise the content and themes of the exhibition and arouse the public's curiosity.

When visitors enter the Altes Museum, their gaze first falls on Schinkel's
rotunda, in which non-European stone sculpture stands - like a meteor impact - to indicate the future connection between the Museum Island and the Humboldt Forum. The principle of movement also applies here: Exhibits from the Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Asian Art will take their place in the rotunda in regular rotation during the six-month exhibition period.

At the beginning of the exhibition, visitors can familiarise themselves with the architectural background and plans for the Humboldt Forum. The future content of the Humboldt Forum and the developments of the site and its architecture are made transparent on film; the award-winning design by Franco Stella complements the moving images.

"From the Kunstkammer to the museum" is the title of the next part of the exhibition.
The essence and aim of the Kunstkammer was to capture the world as a whole.
This room leads from the microcosmic drawing together of nature, culture and science
by means of objects and the playful, associative and scientific
handling of them to the museological forms of presentation of the present day. On the one hand, this exhibition space refers to the significance of the former Kunstkammer in the Berlin City Palace. It also explains the origins of the two Berlin museum collections and the special role played in this context by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the von Humboldt brothers and Adolf Bastian.

In the central "Worlds in Motion" room, the principle of movement
is extended by the changing narrative position. Using selected exhibits
from the Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Asian Art,
visitors can wander through the continents from east to west as if travelling around the world:
starting in the Pacific off the north-west coast of America, followed by the South Seas, Asia,
Africa and America. Groups of objects illustrate important themes such as migration and
exchange, ritual as a process and representations of power, also from the perspective
of European influence. The different
perspectives on the objects are of central importance.

Not only the interpretation of scientists and curators or European
influenced narratives about the objects are presented, but also indigenous,
traditional myths and stories. Artistic positions summarise the central themes and central ideas previously
explored - movement, exchange and power
as well as the changing perspectives.

In the final exhibition room, visitors enter a modern laboratory where they can familiarise themselves with the
active, primarily research-based and mediating work of the three partner institutions
- a practice that is also used in the Humboldt Forum. This
takes place in the exhibition by means of projects that demonstrate different methods
in dealing with collection objects:

• analysing, classifying and interpreting them using the latest scientific
  methods
• analysing the cultural significance of objects for the formation of identity
  of today's descendants of the original cultures and the search for strategies
  for dealing with global challenges.
• Possibilities of knowledge transfer and accessibility to objects, texts,
  images and sounds through old and new media.

A tour of the exhibition gives visitors an impression of
the work of the three partners involved and the opportunities offered by the joint work
of the museum, university and library in the Humboldt Forum on Schlossplatz.

The exhibition is made possible by the Museum Island Board of Trustees.

Opening hours:

Mon, Tue, Wed 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Thu 10 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Fri, Sat, Sun 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Admission prices

Altes Museum: House ticket 8.00 euros, reduced 4.00 euros
Combination ticket Museum Island Berlin / Mitte and special exhibition Pergamonmuseum
14.00 euros, reduced 7.00 euros

Information service of the National Museums in Berlin

Tel: +49 (0)30/ 266 42 4242
e-mail
Fax: +49 (0)30/ 266 42 2290

This press release as PDF document (PDF, 180 KB, not barrier-free)