museum4punkt0 – Digital Strategies for the Museum of the Future - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

The museum4punkt0 joint project networked institutions of different sizes and orientations. The partners developed digital offerings for new ways of learning, experiencing and participating in museums. The aim of the project was to support museums across Germany in developing the right digitization strategy and expanding their digital education offerings.

The Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz led the joint project, which developed, tested, and evaluated digital educational offerings for museums from 2017 to 2023. Interdisciplinary and cross-institutional teams across Germany focused on visitors in order to find new digital approaches to cultural heritage and enable participation. The aim of museum4punkt0 was to share the knowledge pooled within the network and to support museums on their path to digitalization.

The Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz (SPK) managed and administered the joint project. In addition to the administration and organization (coordination, communication, conception) of the joint project, the responsible central project management team had the following tasks

• Coordination of knowledge transfer
• Organization of public and internal events on the topic of digital mediation in cultural institutions and change management processes
• Presentation of the joint project at specialist conferences
• Advice for cultural institutions within and outside the network
• Provision of project results in the form of publications and documented codes
• Development of own prototypical applications for the collections of the SPK and the network institutions

The joint project was initially scheduled to run for three years, was extended three times and was successfully completed at the end of June 2023. The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media funded museum4punkt0 on the basis of a decision by the Deutscher Bundestag.

The institutions participating in museum4punkt0 represent the range of museums in Germany. The project organized by the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz are: 

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Institut für Museumsforschung SMB, Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss, Deutsches Auswandererhaus Bremerhaven, Deutsches Museum von Meisterwerken der Naturwissenschaft und Technik, Museen der schwäbisch-alemannischen Fastnacht (Fasnachtsmuseum Schloss Langenstein und Fastnachtsmuseum Bad Dürrheim), Senckenberg Museum für Naturkunde Görlitz, Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf, Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum, Stiftung Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Varusschlacht im Osnabrücker Land Museum und Park Kalkriese, Historisches Museum Saar, Stiftung Deutsches Meeresmuseum, Badisches Landesmuseum, Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen, Archäologisches Landesmuseum Brandenburg, Freies Deutsches Hochstift – Frankfurter Goethe-Museum, Museum bei der Kaiserpfalz Ingelheim, Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, Oberhessisches Museum Gießen, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Naturhistorisches Museum Mainz, Museumsstiftung Post und Telekommunikation, Historisches Museum der Pfalz.

The sub-projects of the network partners were practice-oriented. Digital prototypes were created in case studies and tested in the respective museums. Requirements, implementation approaches and standards for the design were discussed in an intensive exchange.

The knowledge gained from the project work was processed and shared with other cultural institutions. The project results were made available on the museum4punkt0 network platform. They range from reusable modulable applications and source codes to findings on user behavior, operating concepts and field reports. The intensive exchange of ideas was central to exploiting synergies in the use of digital technologies for mediation in cultural institutions.

museum4punkt0 bundled expert knowledge and experience in order to support as many institutions as possible in the development and implementation of a suitable digital strategy. Outreach concepts that combine digital and analog have had and continue to have a structural impact on the institutions. Digital is seen as an opportunity to enable visitors and users to participate in cultural heritage across all sectors.

Further information

Website of the joint project

Based on a resolution of the Deutsche 
Bundestag, funded by: