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Press conference

Opening of the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst

Livestream of the press conference


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English, German
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From Thursday, September 23, 2021, the collections of the Ethnologisches Museum (Ethnological Museum) and the Asian Art Museum (Museum für Asiatische Kunst) of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (National Museums in Berlin) can finally be experienced again – newly curated, in a contemporary presentation, in the heart of Berlin.

On Monday, September 20, 2021, the press conference will take place, followed by a preview. You can follow the press conference online in the livestream here. This will be followed on Wednesday, September 22, 2021, by a ceremony with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who will give the opening speech. Under the theme “Encounters in Multiplicity” the opening will be celebrated over three days, September 23-26, with discussions, workshops, projections, performances and concerts.

In the Humboldt Forum, the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin will display objects from five continents and nearly two millennia from a variety of perspectives on the 2nd and 3rd floors. In 2021, the rooms in the west wing will open first, followed by the east wing in 2022.

In the presentations, positions of the source communities have also been integrated in direct cooperation with them. In this way, the exhibitions of both museums combine different views of the past and present cultures of Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania – as well as of their own collection history and the legacy of colonialism. A modular structure and temporary exhibition spaces, designed and realized in cooperation with the Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss, will allow a high degree of flexibility to take up and integrate new research findings and take a position on current social issues.

Almost twenty years of preparation lie behind both museums. Again and again, new exhibition forms were tested, own concepts were critically questioned, many external and internal discussions took place. Time and again, the issue was how to deal appropriately with difficult aspects of their own collection history, which led to plans being revised.

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Press conference

Opening of the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst
Livestream of the press conference

Procedure of the Press Conference

Welcome
  • Hartmut Dorgerloh, General Director Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss
Introduction
  • Hermann Parzinger, President of the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation)
  • Lars-Christian Koch, Director of the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Short statements
  • Toralf Gabsch, Chief Conservator Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
  • Andrea Scholz, Scientific Officer for Transcultural Cooperation, Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
  • Christine Howald, Provenance Researcher, Deputy Director Zentralarchiv (Central Archive), Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
  • Alexis von Poser, Deputy Director of the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
  • Presentation of the opening days by Katharina Kepplinger (Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss), Alexander Hofmann (Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) and Monika Zessnik (Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin).
Press room