Category Archives: News

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
Sound Archive, News

Sound Archive: Relocation to the Humboldt Forum

In 2022, the Sound Archive is to move completely into the Humboldt Forum as the only university collection of the Humboldt Universität. Alongside the Humboldt Labor as a flexible exhibition and event venue, it will thus form the HU’s second pillar in the Humboldt Forum.

The plan is to set up a research center that will provide a variety of access points to the recordings. Of course, the integration of the Sound Archive into teaching is to be continued and the collection will continue to be available for external activities.

The Phonogrammarchiv of the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin, which is connected to the Sound Archive through the recording activities of the Phonographic Commission in prisoner-of-war camps of the First World War, will also find its new home in the Humboldt Forum. It will thus be much easier in the future to relate the holdings of the Sound Archive and the Ethnological Museum to each other in research, teaching and cultural activities.

No separate public presentation area is planned for the Sound Archive. Rather, it is planned to cooperate with the exhibition of the State of Berlin in the Humboldt Forum as well as with the ethnomusicology exhibition area of the Ethnological Museum.

News, Publication

Active Materials – Central Cluster Anthology Published on 20 December 2021

What are active materials? This book aims to introduce and redefine conceptions of matter by considering materials as entities that ›sense‹ and respond to their environment. By examining the modeling of, the experiments on, and the construction of these materials, and by developing a theory of their structure, their collective activity, and their functionality, this volume identifies and develops a novel scientific approach to active materials. Moreover, essays on the history and philosophy of metallurgy, chemistry, biology, and materials science provide these various approaches to active materials with a historical and cultural context.

The interviews with experts from the natural sciences included in this volume develop new understandings of ›active matter‹ and active materials in relation to a range of research objects and from the perspective of different scientific disciplines, including biology, physics, chemistry, and materials science. These insights are complemented by contributions on the activity of matter and materials from the humanities and the design field.

  • Discusses the mechanisms of active materials and their various conceptualizations in materials science.
  • Redefines conceptions of active materials through interviews with experts from the natural sciences.
  • Contextualizes, historizes, and reflects on different notions of matter/materials and activity through contributions from the humanities.
  • A highly interdisciplinary approach to a cutting-edge research topic, with contributions from both the sciences and the humanities.

Authors:

Peter Fratzl
Karin Krauthausen
Michael Friedman
Wolfgang Schäffner

The Open Access eBook was published on December 20th, 2021, and is available here. The paperback can be ordered on the De Gruyter homepage, too.

Colloquium, Event, News

Invitation HZK-CARMAH COLLOQUIUM on 07 February 2022 – Polish Folk Art and the Holocaust

The next colloquium will take place on 07 February 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.

Polish Folk Art and the Holocaust: Perpetrator-Victim-Bystander Memory Transactions in the Polish-German Context

The recent turn in Holocaust studies towards the “dispersed” Holocaust that took place outside of the death camps, in full view of local “bystander” populations, requires new sources of data. While oral history has brought important insights into the field, vernacular visual sources have yet to be considered. Holocaust-themed folk art from Poland constitutes an important and as-yet-unexamined source that offers a unique perspective on postwar memorial processes. Created throughout the postwar decades, carvings and paintings of Holocaust scenes by Polish vernacular artists, who remembered pre-war Jews and witnessed the atrocities against them, have been largely forgotten in the holdings of Polish ethnographic museums or reside in private (mostly German) collections, without ever having been systematically examined as a source of knowledge about post-traumatic memory processes.

The project focuses on such vernacular representations of the Shoah, and their impacts and instrumentalizations in East, West, and reunited Germany from 1945 until today, examining their role in Polish and German memory cultures.

The lecture will be held in English.

Event, News

Exhibition Opening »Stretching Materialities«

Tieranatomisches Theater der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Campus Nord, Philippstraße 13, Haus 3
Opening – Thursday, 16 September 2021, 6–8:30 pm.

6 pm Welcome and reception in front of the Tieranatomisches Theater

Welcome addresses by:

  • Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schäffner (Director of the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«)
  • Prof. Dr. Sharon Macdonald (Director of the Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik)
  • Felix Sattler (Lead & Curator of the Tieranatomisches Theaters)
  • Prof. Dr. Claudia Blümle und Clemens Winkler (Project Leader of »Object Space Agency«) together with the Curators Team of »Object Space Agency« and Guests

Afterwards, the exhibition can be explored in different time slots until 8:30 pm.

The exhibition will be open from Friday 17 September 2021 until the end of January 2022, Mon–Fri, 2–6 pm. Detailed information on the exhibition and events such as interactive tours and workshops can be found on the website:
stretching.matters-of-activity.de/.

Please note that as a prerequisite for a visit you have to be either tested, vaccinated or recovered. No pre-registration is required, registration will take place on site.

Exhibition, News

Virchow in the temple of trichinae Temporary exhibition, August 14, 2021 – June 30, 2022

In 1864, Rudolf Virchow published his “Darstellung der Lehre von den Trichinen, mit Rücksicht auf die dadurch geboen Vorsichtsmaßregeln, für Laien und Aerzte” (Berlin: Reimer, 1864). It is already clear from the title that Virchow was not simply presenting a scientific publication of research results. Rather, it is to be regarded as a handbook containing information and concrete instructions for policy-makers and society – including manufacturers and consumers of meat products.

In the same year, the Berlin company Schmidt & Haensch developed a microscope for the examination of meat for trichinae according to Virchow’s specifications. Starting from the trichina microscope as an epistemic object, the exhibition weaves threads to different themes and performers: The introduction of meat inspection, the trichinae controversy, colonial collecting, medicine as social science, etc.

The illustrator Jan Steins illustrates themes and figures on a magnetic wall, on which, depending on the constellation, these are sometimes in the center, sometimes at the edge. By physically shifting and exchanging the individual elements – in the context of a monthly round of talks – new focal points of meaning and relationships between the individual actors emerge.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Information, News

Election to the Council of the Central Institute „Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik“

On 08.06.2021 the election for the Council of the Central Institute “Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik” will take place. Further information about the procedure, deadlines and how to apply for absentee ballots can be found in the Election Notice HZK (PDF in German).

Opening hours polling station at the HZK: 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Gerlachbau – Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum
Kurssaal
Campus Nord
Philippstr. 13, Haus 3
10115 Berlin-Mitte

The way to the Kurssaal is signposted. Voters who cannot enter the building with a key card can use the house bell/intercom system (“Kurssaal”) to gain entry.

The local election committee can be reached by telephone all day on 030 2093 12879.

Information, News

The Tieranatomisches Theater will remain closed (after 12.3.2021)

Dear visitors of the Tieranatomisches Theater,

with the relaxation of the Infection Protection Act (Infektionsschutzgesetz) announced at the beginning of March 2021, cultural institutions are gradually reopening to the public. We too are eagerly awaiting the relaunch of our exhibition and event programme, and we deeply miss your presence.

So why does the TA T remain closed?

As an institution of the Humboldt-Universität, we are subject to the rules agreed between the Berlin Senate Chancellery for Science and Research (Senatskanzlei für Wissenschaft und Forschung) and Berlin’s universities. This means that work at Humboldt-Universität will continue under limited conditions and our properties will not be accessible to the public. I would like to emphasise that we are not hiding behind this decision, but are fully committed to it. There are several reasons for this. The scientific assessment of the course of the pandemic has so far been very correct with forecasts and there are many indications that the fact-based warnings from the scientific community against too rapid relaxation are absolutely justified. In this situation, it is still appropriate to wait with reopening – for the protection of staff and the public. Don’t get me wrong: I believe that the cultural sector and the public engagement it facilitates with science, among other things, are indispensable to life and of systemic importance. A closure of the institutions is an economic catastrophe for many people who make a living from it – and much better political measures are needed here, but also solidarity from all of us. However, closed museums, theatres and clubs are not the end of culture. Instead, we must use this time to develop other forms of mediation and encounter that will be important in the future. This is exactly what we, like many other institutions, are doing behind the scenes right now.
When we open the TA T for you again in spring or summer, there will not be visible changes in the building, but we will also be more present online with guided tours and events. This will require personnel, financial and technical changes and, not least, curatorial innovations. The first steps can already be seen. Linked on the TA T homepage, you will find the virtual “TA Tour” developed by the Cluster of Excellence “Matters of Activity” – an augmented reality experience of the historic building. On Instagram, we offer live, short tours of special details of the building and exhibitions that have otherwise remained hidden. So I am pleased that we will be able to share our work with you in various ways in the future.

Kind regards, Yours

Felix Sattler
Head TA T, Curator

Information, News

The dates for the meetings of the HZK Zentrumsrat 2021

The dates for the 2021 HZK Zentrumsrat meetings are:

24.03.2021, 3-5 p.m. – Agenda (PDF)
02.06.2021, 3-5 p.m.
08.09.2021, 3-5 p.m.
01.12.2021, 3-5 p.m.

Deviations from these dates will be agreed in the committee.
In case of special urgency, additional dates will be convened by the Director, if necessary.
The invitation, including the agenda and preparatory documents, is issued seven days before the start of each meeting.
Meeting dates and agendas are announced publicly.