The Research Campus Dahlem is a place of interdisciplinary research that fosters encounters and exchange. It shows rotating presentations, exhibitions, and projects, accompanied by lectures, discussions, guided tours, film screenings, and family events. 

Seven institutions from the SPK cosmos – a number of which are based in Berlin-Dahlem – have banded together to create the Research Campus Dahlem. It includes the following Staatliche Museen zu Berlin institutions: the Ethnologisches Museum (Ethnological Museum), the Museum für Asiatische Kunst (Museum of Asian Art), the Museum Europäischer Kulturen (MEK, Museum of European Cultures), the Institut für Museumsforschung (Institute for Museum Research), the Kunstbibliothek (Art Library), the Gipsformerei (Replica Workshop), and the Rathgen-Forschungslabor (Rathgen Research Laboratory), joined by the Ibero-Amerikanische Institut (IAI, Ibero-American Institute). 

A Network for Shared Knowledge 

The Research Campus Dahlem is more than a research site. It strives to be a network which connects various areas of expertise and perspectives, enabling it to develop and present new insights into the material and immaterial cultures represented in the Dahlem collections. This work is founded on a commitment to making research processes visible, designing them transparently, and enabling the participation of various interest groups in the development of new knowledge. At the Research Campus Dahlem, various forms of knowledge are treated equally and considered together, transcending traditional epistemological hierarchies. 

CULTURES – RESEARCH – MATERIAL – KNOWLEDGE in Dialogue 

The terms CULTURES – RESEARCH – MATERIAL – KNOWLEDGE shape the work of the Research Campus Dahlem. They reflect diverse facets of the collections and exist in a lively interplay with one another. Objects carry knowledge within them, while knowledge is also a catalyst for cultures, which can lead to the production of new objects. Researching and working with cultures is a mutual exchange in multiple directions, as is the relationship between the research and the objects. 

The Research Campus Dahlem – Forschungscampus Dahlem in German – is affectionately nicknamed “FC Dahlem”, a tongue-in-cheek reference to a football club that highlights its playful spirit in producing and sharing knowledge. FC Dahlem seeks to dismantle rigid hierarchies within systems of knowledge and is committed to an equality-based mode of collaboration when defining research topics. 

Cooperation with Freie Universität Berlin 

The Research Campus Dahlem is connected to Freie Universität Berlin through a strategic partnership. Together, new approaches to learning and teaching are being developed and tested for collection-based research at the Dahlem location. 

The Imaginarium as a Laboratory for Exhibition Concepts 

The special-focus Imaginarium project explores new approaches to exhibition design. In a collaborative process, a presentation on Time & Temporality was developed together with academic and non-academic guests. It opened in 2024, and this presentation’s curated stations are still on view. 

At the same time, the Imaginarium continues to grow and will be expanded in 2026 through a cooperation with the Cluster of Excellence “Temporal Communities” at Freie Universität Berlin, addressing The Stuff of Narrative.

By continuously integrating participatory elements, the Imaginarium invites visitors to take an active role and to shape the exhibition process as an open dialogue of research and storytelling. The Research Campus Dahlem’s Imaginerium is funded by the Kuratorium Preußischer Kulturbesitz.