Lars-Christian Koch becomes Director of the Collections of the National Museums in Berlin at the Humboldt Forum
Press release from 03/19/2018
Foundation Board unanimously elected the renowned ethnomusicologist today / Parzinger: Koch impresses with his expertise, experience and network
The ethnomusicologist Lars-Christian Koch will become Director of the Ethnological Museum and soon also of the Museum of Asian Art of the National Museums in Berlin in the Humboldt Forum. The Board of Trustees of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, chaired by Minister of State for Culture Monika Grütters, today unanimously elected the 59-year-old head of department at the Ethnological Museum of the National Museums in Berlin, who is also the acting director of the entire museum. The new procedure had become necessary because the previous candidate, Inés de Castro, did not want to leave the Linden-Museum in Stuttgart after all.
"To be clear: Lars-Christian Koch was a candidate of equal standing from the outset, who impressed us in the application process with his expertise, experience, international network and enthusiasm for the new role. He is not only a renowned ethnomusicologist, he also knows both collections through his many years of work and will organise contemporary and, above all, high-profile exhibitions and projects. I am sure that with this personnel decision, the National Museums in Berlin are ideally equipped for the work and co-operation in the Humboldt Forum," said Hermann Parzinger, President of the Foundation.
Michael Eissenhauer, Director General of the National Museums in Berlin, added: "Lars-Christian Koch has convincingly demonstrated his strong and integrative leadership qualities in his work to date, not least as Acting Director. His professional expertise is undisputed. It will now be important to develop a research campus for the two collections in Dahlem in addition to an ambitious and attractive exhibition programme in the Humboldt Form."
"I am very pleased about the appointment and think that I am well equipped for the work. I feel very close to the Museum of Asian Art, especially because of my regional research focus on Southeast Asia and East Asia. The Humboldt Forum can only be successful if it succeeds in responding to current issues with its collections. This means that our exhibitions must become more flexible, but above all more contemporary. The increasingly important aspects of globalisation, the dialogue between cultures and issues relating to the repatriation of cultural assets are part of my daily work and will also be decisive for the Humboldt Forum. Digitalisation offers great opportunities for greater participation, which is very important to me. In short, our presentations have to be credible to the public," said Lars-Christian Koch.
Lars-Christian Koch, born in Peine in 1959, studied ethnology, musicology and comparative religious studies at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn from 1980 to 1985. After research visits to India, he completed his doctorate there in 1994 with the thesis "On the significance of the Rasa doctrine for contemporary North Indian art music". From 1999 to 2002, Koch worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Musicology at the University of Cologne, where he completed his habilitation in 2002 with a thesis on the songs of Rabindranath Tagore. In 2003, he moved to Berlin and took over the Department of Media - Ethnomusicology, Berlin Phonogram Archive and Visual Anthropology at the Ethnological Museum. He is currently acting director of the Ethnological Museum. Koch is adjunct professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Cologne and honorary professor at the Berlin University of the Arts and has held visiting professorships at the Universities of Vienna and Chicago (University of Chicago). His research focuses on the theory and practice of North Indian music, instrumentology with special emphasis on instrument making, audiovisual media in cultural contexts, popular music and urban culture, musical interpretations in historical contexts and music archaeology.