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Far away, so close: The new SPK magazine is dedicated to the future of the Dahlem research centre
Press release from 10/25/2024
What will become of Dahlem? From the idea of a "German Oxford" to a modern location for culture, research and teaching, the district in the south-west of Berlin has reinvented itself time and again as a museum location. 2024 is the year of Dahlem: the Geheime Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz has been based here for 100 years and the Ethnological Museum is turning 150, which is reason enough to publish an SPK magazine that explores the possibilities of the green neighbourhood of science and culture.
The print edition is supplemented by an extensive digital offering. Five videos take viewers on a journey through the history of the origins of the "German Oxford". Other focal points are the development of the Secret State Archives, the Museum of European Cultures and the Institute for Museum Research up to the present day. A digital timeline visualises the Dahlem chronicle.
The magazine starts with a walk by writer and essayist Andreas Schäfer, who traces the history and present-day traces of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes, which, as Nobel Prize winners, played a key role in the development of the "German Oxford". In an interview, Patricia Rahemipour, Director of the Institute for Museum Research, FU President Günter M. Ziegler and the Director of the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Thomas Borsch, discuss the location yesterday and today, the diverse forms of cooperation and the special "Dahlem Spirit".
Architectural journalist and curator Florian Heilmeyer looks at the architectural history of Dahlem and explains why some of the city's most progressive museum buildings can be found in south-west Berlin. In the Secret State Archives, Prussian Cultural Heritage, virologist Klaus Stöhr rummages through the historical documents on the Spanish flu and recognises direct parallels to the coronavirus pandemic. The GStA also holds other explosive documents - documents relating to one of the most important criminal cases of the Weimar Republic: the files of the Ministry of Justice in the Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg murder case, which Ralf Hanselle has read.
"If the Museum of European Cultures didn't already exist, it would have to be invented," writes Sophie Dannenberg about the MEK, which attracts visitors to Dahlem with innovative exhibitions and themed days. For example, about the Sami people in northern Europe, who still see their way of life under threat. The Dahlem research campus also focuses on international cooperation, including through the fellowship programme of the "The Collaborative Museum" project of the Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Asian Art.
The SPK magazine is published by the Media, Communication and Events Department. It is realised with the publishing house Res Publica and will be included in partial editions of the "Tagesspiegel" on 25 October 2024. Both the magazine and the large digital package were made possible by funding from the Kuratorium Preußischer Kulturbesitz.
The magazine is available online at www.spkmagazin.de/in-weiter-ferne-so-nah-dahlem-2024.html
Press copies can be ordered at magazin@hv.spk-berlin.de
