Essay

Der für Besucher wohl wichtigste Schritt ist getan: Das Beethovenhaus ist wieder geöffnet. Ab sofort ist die völlig neu gestaltete Dauerausstellung als Hauptattraktion des Hauses für Besucher täglich zugänglich. Und, das sei vorweggenommen: Der Besuch lohnt sich. Gemeinsam mit Ausstellungsprofis und Innenarchitekten entworfen, zeigt sich die Ausstellung von einer ganz neuen, beeindruckenden Seite. Nichts, aber auch gar nichts ist übrig von der doch ein wenig altbackenen und verstaubt wirkenden Inszenierung vergangener Tage.

Mit der Expo.02 verdampfte die Schweizer Architektur. Die Swiss Box weichte auf, überraschte mit lustigen Formen und bunten Farben. Einen Sommer lang stand ‹Schweiz› nicht mehr für Präzision und Zuverlässigkeit, sondern für Sinnlichkeit und Atmosphäre. Im Dreiseenland stieg eine Riesenparty, ein Volksfest, auf dem alle lächelten und immer die Sonne schien. Die Expo war das Woodstock der Schweiz: zu Lebzeiten lustvolle Geld- und Bilderverschwendungsmaschine sowie Planungsdesaster, eine knappe Generation später ein Mythos.

The Humboldt Forum will soon provide Berlin’s historic centre with a new forum for societal and cultural exchange. In this context, the generously proportioned access zones of the Berlin Palace will serve as expansions of the city’s public space, with their dimensions and the flows of visitors passing through them corresponding to those of a central urban plaza. For the individual visitor, the Humboldt Forum’s gargantuan size could seem almost overwhelming.

The aim of the permanent exhibition in the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn is to transport visitors away from contemporary daily life and to design the topics of the exhibition in such a way that visitors not only discover the life and works of Beethoven, but also that visitors are emotionally affected by it. The diversity of the perspectives mean that the transmission of knowledge and the emotional experience complement one another.

The first project I’d like to present is an archaeological research and experience centre called paläon. Paläon is in its own right a small archaeological museum housing a permanent exhibition, a temporary exhibition space, pedagogic rooms, an archaeological laboratory, a shop, and a res- taurant with spaces for meetings and events. The museum is located next to the archaeological site where seven wooden spears were discovered in 1994. Those are over 300,000 years old and therefore turned the current research upside down as they are the oldest hunting weapons known to humankind. 

Originally published in Dynamics of Periphery. Atlas for Emerging Creative and Resilient Habitats, Jörg Schröder / Maurizio Carta / Maddalena Ferretti / Barbara Lino (eds.), JOVIS Verlag 2018.
You can find the publication details here.

The museum as social container

The narrative co-space

Collective Intelligence

Elements of an exhibition

Alienation effect through abstraction

Our handling of the space continues with the manipulation of the exhibits. Original objects become decontextualised in an exhibition, when they end up in a museum they find themselves in a context they have never been in before. Things become interesting when this new environment is used deliberately. A certain alienation effect through abstraction can open up new perspectives.

Published in DETAIL Inside 02/11/2017

We gave the colloquium the title “The Topology of the Intangible” with the aim of drawing attention to the abstract connections between culture, science and society as experienced in museums and exhibitions. Scenography in these contexts is our central focus.

The intangible aspects of an exhibition

Atmosphere is a combination of a space, the objects or people in it, the light, the sound and the smell – in short, all the sensory impressions that form the background to a story. For no matter what format is chosen, an exhibition is basically a story, and the art of telling that story is the invisible thread that holds it all together.

Relevance and context

Interaction

Exhibitions are always interactive. But interaction in a room is not limited to exhibitions. We are always interacting with our environment, whether we are on the street, in a bar, or simply with another person. Exhibition visitors interact with the space, the objects, the images, and the other visitors.

Examples of Holzer Kobler architecture

“We have no need of other worlds. We need mirrors.” (Stanislas Lem, Solaris)

In the following paragraphs, I present some thoughts about and examples of our approach to the scenography and design of exhibitions.

Exhibition: Rumour – Museum of Communication, Berne, Switzerland

Exhibition: Heimatkunde. How German is it? 30 Artists’ Notion of Home – Jewish Museum Berlin, Germany

In no way can we exist in separation from the space – usually designed or shaped in some way – that surrounds us. Every day each of us moves through a continuum of exceedingly diverse spaces of varying types and sizes. We perceive the expansiveness of a landscape, for example, by moving through it. An architect can change the point of view or pull something into focus by creating a lookout, a focal point, or a certain route to be followed.