Contemporary history now

The 20th century in Berlin‘s museums and memorials

21.07. - 25.07.2014

Image Credits

Date

21.07. - 25.07.2014

Location

Museumsakademie Joanneum, Berlin

Meeting point

Werkbundarchiv - Museum der Dinge, Berlin (DE)

Costs

450 €, reduced fee 350 € (The reduced fee is available to students, trainees, unemployed people, and employees of this year’s cooperation partners.)

External registration

Please register via e-mail.

 

Contact
+43-664/8017-9537
museumsakademie@museum-joanneum.at

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About the
Event

A monopoly on the interpretation and communication of history is a thing of the past. Nowadays, a wide range of media and institutions are writing about, reporting on and showing historical content with a variety of means and ends. The great interest in recent history can be explained, among other things, by the fact that past centuries can seem anonymous and foreign to audiences and that there is no obvious connection between these past centuries and one’s own reality today. Contemporary history, on the other hand, can be an influential factor of personal (family) histories and, as such, is a controversial and emotionally charged issue. It is a hot subject because no consensus has yet been reached on what must or can be relevant to contemporary history today. It is omnipresent in today’s urban spaces, and it is a familiar feature of our everyday lives through its objects and media. Against this background, we are going to embark on a five-day expedition through Berlin, a city with seemingly countless museums, exhibitions and memorial sites on the history of National Socialism and the GDR. Together with experts from museums, universities, and the media, we will discuss who is authorised to speak at these sites, what gives them the right, and what stories they tell. We will analyse the different social roles that individual institutions play and who their target audiences are. We will compare different content- and design-related concepts and we will discuss the potentials and challenges of the media of contemporary history, such as photography, film, or the accounts of contemporary witnesses. Seeing as the 20th century has largely been defined by dictatorial regimes, violence, and war, we will also specifically focus on how to handle sensitive collections and topics.


Further information

EXPEDITION

With
Dominik Bartmann Exhibition Department Director, Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin (DE)
Lorraine Bluche Exhibition Curator, Berlin (DE)
Tobias Böhm Employee of the Research College Department, Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin (DE)
Inge Deutschkron Founder of the Museum Blindenwerkstatt Otto Weidt, Berlin (DE)
Stefanie Endlich Publicist and Honorary Professor for Art in Public Space, UdK Berlin (DE)
Michael Fehr Director of the Institute for Art in Context, Berlin University of the Arts (DE)
Julia Franke research associate Research Associate, German-Russian Museum Berlin-Karlshorst (DE)
Helmuth Frauendorfer Deputy Director, Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial (DE)
Bettina Habsburg-Lothringen Director of the Joanneum Museum Academy, Graz (AT)
Wolf Kaiser Deputy Director and Head of the Education Department, House of the Wannsee Conference, Berlin (DE)
Axel Klausmeier Director of the Berlin Wall Foundation, Berlin (DE)
Christoph Kühn Mediation Memorial SA Prison Papestraße, Berlin (DE)
Simone Ladwig-Winters Consultant historian in the project ‘We were neighbours’, Berlin (DE)
Thomas Lutz Head of the Memorial Site Department of the Topography of Terror Foundation, Berlin (DE)
Frauke Miera Exhibition curator, Berlin (DE)
Julia Novak Conceptualiser, filmmaker and lecturer for media practice, Berlin (DE)
Brinda Sommer Advisor to the Board of the Berlin City Museum Foundation (DE)
Petra Zwaka Head of the Department of Art, Culture, Museums at the District Office of Berlin (DE)

 

Organisers of the event
Bettina Habsburg-Lothringen Director Museumsakademie Joanneum, Graz (AT)
Michael Fehr Director Institute for Art in Context, UdK Berlin (DE)