Category Archives: News

Colloquium, Event, News

Invitation HZK-CARMAH COLLOQUIUM on June 27, 2022, at 2 p.m.

The event will take place at the HZK (House 3, Gerlachbau next to the Tieranatomischen Theater TAT, Campus Nord, Philippstraße 13) and virtually (Access data for the video conference will be provided on request by email to oliver.zauzig@hu-berlin.de).

Since the 1990s, collecting practices and associated problems such as contamination and toxicity have increasingly come into focus due to the growing ecological and political relevance of objects and materials. However, little epistemic relevance has been attributed to the toxic remains produced during these transformative processes of differentiation, purification and reevaluation.

The presentation provides insight into the process of an artistic research that deals with this marginality by means of asbestos-contaminated objects of a foundation collection and their handling.

Flavia Caviezel is an ethnologist, film scholar and lecturer at the FHNW – Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Institut Experimentelles Design und Medienkulturen in Basel. The work was produced during a research residency 2021-22 at the Matters of Activity cluster at Humboldt University.

The lecture will be held in German.

Colloquium, Event, News

Invitation HZK-CARMAH COLLOQUIUM on June 13, 2022, at 2 p.m.

The event will take place at the HZK (House 3, Gerlachbau next to the Tieranatomischen Theater TAT, Campus Nord, Philippstraße 13) and virtually (Access data for the video conference will be provided on request by email to oliver.zauzig@hu-berlin.de).

Museum Space Knowledge. An Interdisciplinary and Co-laborative Experiment at Humboldt Labor

The exhibition spaces of the Humboldt Laboratory in the Humboldt Forum are conceived as an instrument of knowledge transfer between science and society. The research project “Museum Raum Wissen” (Museum Space Knowledge), funded by the Joachim Herz Foundation, examines this transfer from a spatial perspective in an intersectional way. The aim is to produce insights into the space and architecture of the co-production of knowledge in the museum context and to develop impulses for the design of exhibition spaces. To this end, a ‘co-laborative’ field research at the interface between architecture and social sciences will be carried out in the opening exhibition “Nach der Natur”.

Sarah Etz and Séverine Marguin provide insights into the ongoing project and initial results.

The lecture will be held in German.

Colloquium, Event, News

Invitation HZK-CARMAH COLLOQUIUM on May 23, 2022, at 2 p.m.

The event will take place at the HZK (House 3, Gerlachbau next to the Tieranatomischen Theater TAT, Campus Nord, Philippstraße 13) and virtually (Access data for the video conference will be provided on request by email to oliver.zauzig@hu-berlin.de).

The DFG-funded research project „Curating Digital Images: Ethnographic Perspectives on the Affordances of Digital Images in Heritage and Museum Contexts“ deals with the question of how digital images transform the museum experience. Two interconnected empirical studies explore these transformations ethnographically. The first study takes a close look at how digital images from museum databases are downloaded, shared, and dealt with in people’s everyday lives. The second study concentrates on digital image practices in the physical museum and seeks to understand how visitor-photographs taken in museums are curated and contextualized on social media platforms. An eye-tracking study furthermore gives interesting insights on how interdisciplinary collaboration with information science can enhance ethnography and shows how the human eye plays into curatorial practice processes.

Katharina Geis & Sarah Ulrich will give insights into the empirical studies and present the research results.

The lecture will be held in English.

Jobs, News

Job advertisement – HZK – W3‐S-Professorship for “Science and Society/Public Science”

W3‐S-Professorship for “Science and Society/Public Science”

Reference number
PR/002/22

Category
Professorship

Number of jobs
1

Location
Central Institute (CI) Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik (HZK)

Application until
01.07.2022

Text
The CI Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolutionary and Biodiversity Research wish to appoint a W3‐S-Professorship for “Science and Society/Public Science” at the earliest convenience.

The Museum für Naturkunde Berlin is a world leader in collection-based biodiversity and evolution research and, as Germany’s most visited (natural history) museum, offers an excellent platform for knowledge exchange between science and society. With the “Future Plan” funded by the federal government and the state of Berlin, the museum will undergo a far-reaching transformation over the next 10 years, a key aspect of which is the development of a joint “Science Campus for Nature and Society” with the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. The aim of the joint science campus is to expand and deepen the inter- and transdisciplinary cooperation and knowledge transfer of both institutions. By creating a space for public discourse, participation in research and critical reflection, the Science Campus aims to address – in theory and practice – to solving pertinent and urgent scientific and societal challenges arising e.g. from rapid global climate and ecosystem change.

The professorship will establish a research program on science and society in the interdisciplinary environment of the museum, the university and the science campus. She/he will research and promote the emergence of new forums of collaboration between different societal actors from science, civil society, politics and business as well as new formats of knowledge production and governance of science (e.g. public engagement, participatory research, co-creation/co-production of knowledge, citizen science, science-policy interfaces). She/he is expected to develop the analytical framework for theoretical and practical approaches to these novel forms of knowledge production and their scientific performance and societal impact, including their evaluation criteria. In addition to inter- and transdisciplinary experience and openness, a further desired focus should be an empirical approach, through which both quantitative and qualitative methods of social research can be applied.

The professorship, jointly appointed by the Museum für Naturkunde and Humboldt-Universität, will be based at the Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik, which, as the central institute of the HU, is dedicated to inter- and transdisciplinary research into cultural techniques, with a particular focus on collections and exhibitions as formats of knowledge exchange. The professorship thus establishes a conceptual and programmatic link between the two institutions.

The post holder is expected to a) contribute substantially to the museum’s science programme “Society & Nature”, b) to support its impact through a strong connection to the science campus and c) to the museum’s collection development and research activities. In addition, she/he is expected to acquire third-party funding for the strategic development and expansion of the research and transfer/knowledge exchange activities of the Science Campus.

We are looking for persons who represent the topic of the professorship in research and teaching to the broadest possible extent and who are accomplished in the following main areas:

internationally recognised research in one or more areas relevant to the field, e.g. public engagement, knowledge exchange (knowledge transfer), co-production of knowledge, open science; experience in the conception, organisation and delivery of innovative inter- and transdisciplinary research and transfer/knowledge exchange projects; experience in interdisciplinary research and collaboration, especially in/with the life sciences and/or natural history museums; outstanding subject-relevant dissertation and additional scientific achievements, evidenced by publications, project documentation or similar; track record in successful acquisition of third-party funding; experience in interdisciplinary project-oriented teaching.

The applicants must meet the legal requirements for professorial appointments in accordance with § 100 of the `Berliner Hochschulgesetz`.

Application to
HU is seeking to increase the proportion of women in research and teaching, and specifically encourages qualified female scholars to apply. Researchers from abroad are welcome to apply. Several disabled applicants with equivalent qualifications will be given preferential consideration. People with an immigration background are specifically encouraged to apply.

Please send your application (including a list of publications, a complete list of courses, details of previous and current (third-party funded) research projects, a 2-page summary of the research profile), quoting the reference number, to the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Director of the Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik, Prof. Dr. Sharon Macdonald, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin or preferably by e-mail in a PDF file to hzk.berufungen@hu-berlin.de.

Since we will not return your documents, please submit copies in the application only.

If you have any questions about the professorship, please contact the Genaral Director of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Prof. Johannes Vogel, Ph.D. (generaldirektor@mfn.berlin).

Please visit our website www.hu-berlin.de/stellenangebote, which gives you access to the legally binding German version.

Event, Exhibition, News, Symposium

Viral Theatres: Pandemic Past / Hybrid Futures – Opening/Symposium: 28.4.-30.4.2022 – Exhibition 28.4.-3.6.2022

How hybrid is the future of theater?

The exhibition of the research project “Viral Theatres” explores this question and makes its Living Archive accessible – a multifaceted collection that shows the new forms and themes of pandemic theater making and experience in interviews, video and audio documents and digital interactions.
The opening of the exhibition will be accompanied by a symposium with workshops, a VR performance, and discussion panels on the future of hybrid theater work with international cultural practitioners and scholars.

Symposium
28. – 30. April 2022
Tieranatomisches Theater Berlin & Streaming

Exhibition
28. April – 3. June 2022
Tieranatomisches Theater Berlin
Philippstr. 13, Campus Nord, Haus 3, 10115 Berlin
Opening hours: Mo – Fri, 14:00 -18:00

Information, program and registration
Viral Theatres: Pandemic Past /Hybrid Futures

Colloquium, Event, News

Invitation HZK-CARMAH COLLOQUIUM on 25. April 2022, 2 p.m., online – The Museum as a Choir: Visitor Reactions to the Multivocality at the Humboldt Forum’s ‘Berlin Global’

The next colloquium will take place on 25 April 2022 at 2 pm and all interested parties are cordially invited!
The event will be held virtually.
Access data for the video conference will be provided on request by email to oliver.zauzig@hu-berlin.de.

This talk by Irene Hilden & Andrei Zavadski will provide insights into the research project ‘Realizations and Reception in the Humboldt Forum,’ based at the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
With ethnographic audience research at its root, the project explored how visitors engaged with the Humboldt Forum and its exhibitions during the first weeks of the institution’s operation. The talk will focus on some of the findings related to audience experiences of multivocality as employed in the exhibition ‘Berlin Global.’

The lecture will be held in English.

News

HZK stands with Ukraine

The Hermann von Helmholtz Zentrum for Cultural Techniques strongly condemns the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. As we, scholars of the cultural, know all too well, military violence always has long-term and far-reaching consequences that affect human lives way beyond the war zone. We stand in solidarity with our colleagues in Ukraine as well as with all the Ukrainian people, and send our support to those affected by the cynical and cruel decisions of the Russian authorities.

There are several ways to help Ukraine, some of them can be found here: https://uacrisis.org/en/help-ukraine

Philipp Schwartz Initiative for researchers at risk
In view of the crisis in the Ukraine, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is offering the opportunity for universities and research institutions in Germany to submit complete applications for Ukrainian scholars under immediate threat in the current selection round of the Philipp Schwartz Initiative. Nominations of Ukrainian scholars at acute risk may be submitted until 18 March 2022.

Event, News, Symposium

Symposium: Refigured Museums. Interdisciplinary Perspectives for Spatial Research in Museums.

Dear colleagues,

We would like to draw your attention to the symposium of our research project “Museum Space Knowledge” of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, that we are organising in cooperation with the CRC 1265 Re-Figuration of Space of the Technische Universität of Berlin.

Symposium: Refigured Museums. Interdisciplinary Perspectives for Spatial Research in Museums

Date: Thursday, 3rd of March 2022, 9.30-17.30 and Friday, 4th of March 2022, 9.30-13.30

Location: Online, Zoom link will be sent via email (see attachment for registration)

Which spaces are constituted in and with museums? How is the co-production of knowledge spatialized within the museal institution? And how can museums be designed in the future to make these knowledge processes more accessible and diverse?
In our interdisciplinary and international conference, we would like to bring together researchers from the fields of sociology, anthropology, art history, architecture, and art who are dedicated to the question of museal space.

For further information, please see the booklet attached (PDF).

We would be very grateful if you could spread this invitation through your network.

Thank you very much and best regards
Sarah Etz, Séverine Marguin and Henrike Rabe

The research project „Museum Space Knowledge“ is funded by the Joachim Herz Stiftung.

Joachim_Herz_Stiftung_Logo

 

News, Publication

Kältebilder. Ästhetik und Erkenntnis am Gefrierpunkt

Kältebilder. Ästhetik und Erkenntnis am Gefrierpunkt (Ed. Matthias Bruhn)

Bildwelten des Wissens – Band 17
Edited by Katja Müller-Helle, Claudia Blümle, Horst Bredekamp and Matthias Bruhn

As means of preservation, low-temperature technologies have always been of paramount importance to humankind’s culture, but it was not until the industrial age that processes of artificial cooling were developed, which soon became a fundamental element of civilization. Henceforth, it shaped the production and form of knowledge: Frozen motion became a metaphor for slowed recording; modern computing or various imaging techniques required cryogenics. Forms of ice-cold observation, however, are contrasted by losses of visibility due to frost or precipitation, just as the artificial lowering of temperatures continues to fuel climate change precisely through its energy consumption. In every respect, cooling technology is reaching new all-time heights and lows – with extensive consequences for knowledge and perception.

Video-Clip: Kältebilder (YouTube)

ePub – Open Access – Kältebilder. Ästhetik und Erkenntnis am Gefrierpunkt (PDF)

© Bruhn, Matthias. Kältebilder: Ästhetik und Erkenntnis am Gefrierpunkt, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2021. Dieses Werk ist lizenziert unter der Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Lizenz. e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-074761-4 https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110747614

Bildwelten_des_Wissens_Band_17_Kaeltebilder_Aesthetik_und_Erkenntnis_am_Gefrierpunkt
News, Publication

Eine Frage der Perspektive. Objekte als Vermittler von Wissenschaft

The book title “Eine Frage der Perspektive” addresses several highly topical issues at the same time: On the one hand, the volume negotiates the gain of knowledge from an object through its mere contemplation; on the other hand, it is precisely the change of perspective on an object that helps to formulate scientific working hypotheses and theories. The volume illustrates how today’s perspectives are taken into account when old objects and their collection contexts are examined under new ethical and moral values. Thus, the classic object topics in this volume are joined by the view of provenance research, artistic object debate, autoethnographic object description, and the question of how broadly the concept of a museum object can be defined at all and how categorization and naming should be done accordingly. The object histories included here, in particular, cut a wide swath from research content to its mediation. This volume brings together eleven contributions by young scholars from the fields of museology, archival studies, ethnology, the history of physics, medicine, theater, human anatomy, mathematics education, geology, paleontology, and the liberal arts. They all focus on the consideration of collection objects from different perspectives. The contributions clearly show that objects can convey science excellently, often more vividly than texts or images can. Object-based knowledge transfer promotes a representational and thus often more easily understandable science. This link from object to research to reflection on research is the strength of this fifth volume of the Young Forum for Collection and Object Research.

Authors:

Frank D. Steinheimer
Waltraud Mudrich 
Sarah Fetzer
Daniel Falk
Michael Stache
Anja Weber
Sophia Gräfe
Julia Bärnighausen 
Henrike Stein
Beate Eismann
Leonie Braam
Hannes Junker
Sara Müller
Johanna Lessing

To the publication:

Junges_Forum_Publikation_Cover