Press release Berlin, 12 June 2017
The Invention of Nature Encountering Alexander von Humboldt with Andrea Wulf and Neil MacGregor
The Humboldt Forum is hosting The Invention of Nature, a series of discussions with Andrea Wulf and Neil MacGregor in the Deutsche Theater Berlin on 16 July 2017 at 5 pm. The art historian will talk to the Humboldt Forum Steering Committee member about the relevance today of Humboldt’s understanding of nature as a living whole. The first discussion took place in Berlin last December and will be repeated thanks to the overwhelming interest in the event.
Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) was one of the most famous scientists of his time – a true cosmopolitan of international ranking. His groundbreaking thinking and ideas about nature and our place within it changed scientific research forever. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe revered him more than any other contemporary, he had a lifelong friendship with Thomas Jefferson and Charles Darwin wrote without Humboldt, he would never have boarded the Beagle. Countless glaciers, rivers and mountains in Central and South America are named after him, and there is even Mare Humboldtianum on the moon.
The untiring naturalist lived in Berlin and Paris. His adventurous journeys took him to Latin America, Russia and Central Asia. Possessed by the desire to know and understand everything, his way of thinking and conducting research was way ahead of his time. Like no other researcher, Humboldt influenced our understanding of nature as a living whole, as a cosmos in which its smallest all the way to its largest component parts are connected – and with which we humans are inextricably linked. Thanks to his numerous friendships and his exceptional correspondence, Alexander von Humboldt initiated many new ways of thinking about the world. And it is his universalism that renowned researchers, scientists and artists refer to as they continue to work with his ideas – to this very day.
In 2016 Andrea Wulf was awarded the Royal Society Science Book Prize and the Bayerischer Buchpreis for her biography The Invention of Nature. Alexander von Humboldt’s New World. Her book has been included in a number of bestseller lists. Andrea Wulf and Neil MacGregor, director of the Humboldt Forum Steering Committee, first discussed the ideas of Alexander von
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Humboldt in December 2016. They now are continuing this discussion on a small tour through Germany.
Andrea Wulf, born in India and raised in Germany, has lived in London for fifteen years. Since completing her studies in the history of design at the Royal College of Art, she has worked as a non-fiction writer and journalist. She is the recipient of numerous prizes. Her book The Brother Gardeners was nominated for the long list for the Samuel Johnson Prize, as well as other awards. She writes for such publications as the The Wall Street Journal, The Sunday Times, The New York Times, The Guardian and The Times Literary Supplement and is also a regular contributor for the BBC. Her book Chasing Venus was published in 2012.
Neil MacGregor studied philosophy, law and history of art in Paris, Edinburgh, London and Oxford. He taught history of art and architecture at the University of Reading and was the editor of Burlington Magazine in London until 1987. He then went on to become the Director of the National Gallery in London. In 2002 he became the Director of the British Museum in London, where he curated the series A History of the World in 100 Objects, which was accompanied by an exhibition and book. In 2014 he curated the exhibition Germany – Memories of a Nation, which is currently on show at the Martin- Gropius-Bau under the title Der Britischer Blick: Deutschland – Erinnerungen einer Nation. In 2015 he was made Director of the Humboldt Forum Steering Committee. The art historian has received numerous awards, and most recently the Friedrich-Gundolf-Preis, the German National Prize and the Goethe- Medaille, which he received in 2015.
If you want to understand the world around us, the Humboldt Forum is the place to be. In the run-up to the completion of the Berlin Palace, the Humboldt Forum will be expanding the scope of its activities with an extensive programme. As a forum for the general public, not only is the Humboldt Forum open for all to visit, but it also encourages everybody to join in the debate on issues such as nature, culture, migration, religion and globalization. The main organizers are the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (SPK) with the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Kulturprojekte Berlin together with Stadtmuseum Berlin, and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. The Humboldt Forum is up and running!
For more information, visit humboldtforum.com and deutschestheater.de
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The Invention of Nature Encountering Alexander von Humboldt with Andrea Wulf and Neil MacGregor
Date 16 July 2017 at 5 pm, doors open 4:45 pm Ort Deutsches Theater Berlin Schumannstraße 13a, 10117 Berlin deutschestheater.de
Language German Admission Free, no registration necessary
Coordinator Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss humboldtforum.com
Press Contact Michael Mathis Press Officer Cultural and Digital Communication +49 151 1617 97 27, [email protected] humboldtforum.com
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