Humboldt Forum / Agora: Presentation of the content-related concept work
Press release from 06/12/2013
Parallel to the Humboldt Forum's external appearance, its content is also taking shape. Today, exhibition organiser and cultural manager Martin Heller is presenting the "Humboldt Forum / Agora Content Concept" in the presence of Minister of State for Culture Bernd Neumann, the Director of the Federal Cultural Foundation Hortensia Völckers and the President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation Hermann Parzinger.
Hermann Parzinger commented: "I am delighted that the Humboldt Forum Berlin Palace is beginning to take shape in front of everyone's eyes as the foundation stone is laid today. This will create a vibrant place of world cultures in the centre of Berlin. Martin Heller has presented a concept that represents an important step. It concretises a series of decisive specifications that will serve as a guide for further planning. Above all, however, it shows how the event, exhibition and library areas can be successfully interlinked."
The concept was developed in close cooperation with the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and the future users (Berlin State Museums, Berlin Central and State Library and Humboldt University) as well as other partners and responsible parties.
Fundamental to the content planning is the focus on the present and current issues of a globalised world as well as a multi-perspective approach to the collections. The "Berlin Model" bundles these approaches into an attitude that characterises the entire Humboldt Forum.
For example, the Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Asian Art will also adopt the profile of contemporary discourse originally reserved for the Agora and apply it to the presentation of their object worlds on the upper floors. Conversely, the events area will not only develop its own themes, but will also integrate the ideas of the museums and other partners and combine history and the present in a variety of ways. The Berlin Central and State Library with the "World of Languages" and the Humboldt University with the "Showcase of Research" are also pursuing a similar approach.
The paper outlines the special features of the location and points out the first visitor routes through the building. It also introduces the event areas on the ground floor and sets initial parameters for future event formats.
The Humboldt Lab Dahlem serves as a methodological aid and rehearsal stage. Its experiments are already bringing the themes and concerns of the future Humboldt Forum to life - for example in the targeted collaboration with contemporary artists, in the exploration of unusual media possibilities or in the thematisation of questions of collection history and provenance. The experiences and results of the Humboldt Lab Dahlem will be incorporated into the museums' exhibition concepts.
Further chapters of the content concept are devoted to the central role of the public and the upcoming steps towards establishing an operational organisation.
Martin Heller states: "The fact that all those involved are behind the practical ideas of the content concept and that their cooperation is becoming more and more substantial gives the planning work both security and dynamism."
The "Humboldt Forum / Agora Content Concept" is available for download on the website of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and on the website of the Humboldt Forum.
A new SPK publication provides an informative overview of the current state of planning with contributions from all those involved in the Humboldt Forum project:
"The Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace. Planning, Processes, Perspectives"
Edited by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
Munich 2013, Hirmer Verlag
128 pages, 85 illustrations, mostly in colour.
ISBN 978-3-7774-2107-0
19,90 Euro