WEITWINKEL – Global Perspectives on Collections is an interdisciplinary series of events dealing with transcultural topics and socially relevant issues on the basis of current exhibitions, research projects and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin’s collaborative projects.

In anticipation of the opening of the Humboldt Forum vis-à-vis the Museumsinsel, concepts are also being developed to build a bridge to the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin collections at the Humboldt Forum. The following questions, among others, form the focus of this endeavour:

• How did the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin collections come about and what significance do they have currently in a global context?
• How are acquisitions from the colonial period dealt with?
• Which cross-cultural connections and narratives do the objects harbour?
• Which tasks do museums presently face and which new concepts are available for that undertaking?
• To what extent do diversity and inclusion represent a particular challenge and at the same time an opportunity for museums?

Colleagues from the individual collections and international speakers will discuss these questions with the audiences in lectures, panel discussions and workshop reports. Collaborations with representatives from the societies of origin is of particular importance here.

“Reflections on the Last Judgement”
A discussion with Andreas Feldtkeller (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) and Sarah Schönewald, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Exhibition at the Gemäldegalerie (Old Master Paintings), (Anthony Caro: The Last Judgement Sculpture, from the Würth Collection)

“What Can Research about Photography in Ethnological Museums Do for Current Social Cohesion?”
A lecture by Hanin Hannouch, (4A_Lab, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut / Staatliche Museen zu Berlin)

“Two Totem Poles and Many Perspectives”
A Conversation with Two Highlights from the Humboldt Forum

Rio de Janeiro – Berlin – Vienna: Museums as a Relational Web
A Podium Discussion with Manuela Fischer, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and Claudia Augustat, (Weltmuseum Wien)
 

The dates for each event will be announced here soon. Articles on the event series WEITWINKEL – Global Perspectives on Collections can be found on Museum and the City, the blog of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (German only).

• “Clothing Makes People – People Make Clothing”: A Fishbowl Discussion in Connection with the Exhibition Fast Fashion – The Dark Sides of Fashion (Museum Europäischer Kulturen, MEK, Museum of European Cultures)
• “Central America in Focus: Digital Transformation and Knowledge Exchange”
• “The Concept of Your Interpretation – Challenging the Colonial Archive through Art and Research” Workshop Report from the Namibia Research Project at the Ethnologisches Museum (Ethnological Museum)
• “Tanzania – Germany: Shared Object Histories?”
• “Museums and the Debate about Islam – How Political are Cultural Institutions?!
• “DESIGN MACHT MUSEUM. Reflections on a Global Museum of Applied Arts”