Terrible Beauty – tours and workshops
From September 2021
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What does ivory actually feel like? Can humans perceive the secret language of elephants? And what does the extinction of elephants and the hunting of ivory have to do with me? Answers to these and many other questions are provided by the diverse educational and outreach programme, which is aimed at visitors with varying interests and needs.
The public and bookable tours in various languages set the theme of Elephant – Human – Ivory in an ethical, global and post-colonial context and provide access for all ages to the topic and its related issues. Public tours take place five times a week, we offer a multisensory tour focussing on the material itself, and groups can get an overview in our one-hour tours. Workshops are available for school groups to address the topic more intensively.
One of the programme’s main focus is on ivory as a material and its particular properties, with the multisensory tour. A workshop entitled Be Strong for the Elephants! focuses on the conflict between elephants and humans, as well as the question of how consumers can use their awareness and their consumption and travel habits to help defuse this conflict.
The exhibition layout has a guidance and orientation system designed for people with visual empairment. Integrated sensory stations enable visitors to experience the tactile nature of ivory by presenting selected objects to touch. Visitors will also have the opportunity to feel the differences in texture of the ears, back and tusks of different elephant species.
Preview
The Terrible Beauty educational programme begins on 1 September 2021. Booking is anticipated to open mid-August. Our services for groups can be booked in German or English; further languages can be booked on request.
The overview tour introduces the sections of the exhibition by means of selected objects and invites visitors to explore the tactile properties of the materials and to familiarise themselves with the contentious viewpoints in the Voices of Ivory – the centre of the exhibition – and to place them in ethical, global and postcolonial contexts.
What do ivory musical instruments sound like, and what are the stories and myths surrounding the elephant? For the answers to these questions, take the multisensory tour – a tactile, acoustic and emotional tour around the area of conflict between animal, human and nature.
The multisensory tour is available in German only.
Grade 7 to 10
In this tour, pupils address questions on the history and provenance of the exhibits. They work on the basis of a sheet and present their results in the exhibition. In Voices of Ivory, which allows experts to have their say, they discuss the different viewpoints and place them in ethical, environmental and postcolonial contexts.
Grade 4 to 6
Pupils engage in intensive exploration of ivory as a material, together with questions on animal welfare and the international ivory trade. They discuss solutions and strategies to protect elephants and stop the illegal ivory trade. They then produce a poster illustrating how they would stand up for elephants.
Grade 7 to 10
What do elephant extinction and ivory hunting have to do with me? This workshop explores these question and searches for answers and solutions, in a spirit of global learning. After a guided tour of the exhibition, pupils work in groups on different ethical and environmental issues using a variety of materials, including world maps, consumer products containing palm oil, ivory souvenirs confiscated by customs, Instagram pictures of wildlife, short film clips and written articles.