Detail page - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

Over 200 guests from politics, culture, business, science and society attended the annual reception of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation at the James-Simon-Galerie on Berlin's Museum Island yesterday (9 April). Among them were Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth, Berlin's Senator for Culture Joe Chialo and Saxony-Anhalt's Minister of Culture RainerRobra as well as members of the German Bundestag and the Berlin House of Representatives. Numerous Berlin directors, museum directors and heads of well-known companies were also welcomed.

At the 2024 annual reception, the SPK institutions presented highlights and focal points of the current year. Foundation President Hermann Parzinger said: "Our balance sheet is good! And it remains so. This applies above all to visitor numbers. In 2023, the museums had almost 4.5 million visitors. I assume that we will also finish strongly this year. The exhibitions on Caspar David Friedrich, Claude Monet, Frans Hals and Andy Warhol promise a lot."

Parzinger explained the current status of the reform, which should be largely completed by the end of the year: "Important steps towards the autonomy of the institutions have been taken and we are continuing to work intensively on implementing the next ones. However, a reform cannot be limited to structural and organisational issues, which is why we also went through a strategy process last year. Under the title SPK2030, we have defined how the foundation should position itself in the future."

Some of the institutions themselves have also already undergone strategy processes: "At the State Institute for Music Research, the focus is on digital accessibility, knowledge communication and internationalisation. The State Library has opened up further and achieved great success with the exhibitions in the Stabi Kulturwerk. In addition, the digital knowledge resources are being expanded and it is about taking the broader understanding of the social mission of libraries even more seriously."

However, 2024 is not only an important year for the SPK: "2024 is a year of decisions: The European elections are coming up, the state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg, and the presidential election in the USA! What the world, Europe and our country will look like afterwards is something that concerns us all. The question of what will happen in Ukraine is also crucial. And with all these challenges for our democracy and social cohesion, cultural institutions are also called upon and challenged: It is also our task to impart knowledge and tolerance, to engage in dialogue with society. Perhaps we are needed now more than ever!"

This makes it all the more important that the SPK continues to expand and deepen its national and international collaborations: "One of our most important projects is the so-called 'Collaborative Museum' - this involves transcultural collaborations with representatives from countries and societies of origin, including artists." The Museum of European Cultures is dedicating a comprehensive project to researching the provenance of its Sami collection, one of the most important outside of Northern Europe. The research into the suppressed and destroyed culture of the Sámi, which is being carried out in cooperation with museums in Finland, Sweden and Norway, will also lead to an exhibition in the Humboldt Forum. Another current highlight is the cooperation between the Collection of Classical Antiquities and the CSMVS Museum in Mumbai: together with the British Museum and the Getty, a joint "Sharing Collections" programme has been launched there, which brings European and Asian art into dialogue and places a strong focus on local mediation work as part of the exhibition. The cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution in the field of provenance research, which has existed for years, will also be continued and intensified, particularly in the area of research into the provenance of Asian art.
Further highlights were presented in the stage programme:

At the Kulturforum, the Gemäldegalerie is showing a major Frans Hals exhibition. There will also be a cultural programme based around the European Football Championship. The Neue Nationalgalerie is taking a new look at Andy Warhol and the Kunstgewerbemuseum is presenting outfits by fashion designer Dawid Tomaszewski. Finally, a series of lectures at the Art Library will deal with the almost forgotten history of the Tiergarten neighbourhood.

On Museum Island, the colonnades will be completed so that the last area with a view of James Simon Park can also be reached. A highlight there in summer will be the exhibition on Caspar David Friedrich, for which the opening hours of the Alte Nationalgalerie will be extended in the evenings. Two exhibitions on Impressionism - on the Museum Island with highlights by Monet, in the Kupferstichkabinett with previously unknown masterpieces of the "other" Impressionism.

At the annual reception, artist Marianna Simnett spoke about her new video installation "WINNER", which will be shown at Hamburger Bahnhof on the occasion of the European Championships. Michael Wesely, whose two new work cycles will be shown as part of an exhibition at the Museum of Photography, was also a guest of the evening.

The IAI presented the Mecila project, in which it plays a central role in Germany's scientific and cultural exchange with Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal.
The State Library discussed the importance of a text recognition programme for non-Latin writings.
The Geheime Staatsarchiv is celebrating its centenary at the Dahlem site this year, while SIM is celebrating the Year of the Tuba and Arnold Schönberg's 150th birthday.

SPK annual focal points 2024 for download (PDF, 1.1 MB)