The Humboldt-Forum is

► an international meeting point and forum for the world

The Humboldt-Forum aims to improve our understanding of the globalised world in which we live by raising questions and also searching for solutions. It is our goal to promote interaction between different cultures and to increase mutual understanding. In today’s mediated world, geographical distances / dimensions are less and less determining factors for many people. However, this change has not been accompanied by an increase in genuine understanding for one another, so it is all the more important to support this understanding, and to highlight developments in relationships between cultures and societies. The forum seeks to illuminate the tasks with which we are faced – in our cultures, societies, economies, and politics.

► a new home for equal rights, tolerance and democracy

The Palace and the square where it is situated look back on a turbulent history. Even as the palace conjures notions of the building’s historical identity, the reconstructed palace will primarily serve as the home of the Humboldt-Forum; and thus help foster a respectful and equitable world community founded on the principle of diversity. History, however, will not be buried in the process: a number of freely accessible areas will address the palace’s history and reveal traces of the past.

► a historical, present, and future obligation

Following in the spirit of Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt, the brothers who give the Humboldt-Forum its name and conceptual ideas, the forum is characterised by its cosmopolitan worldview and democratic consciousness. Actors and partners of the Humboldt-Forum committed to this tradition include the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation) with its two National Museums, the Berlin State, with especially the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, as well as the Stiftung Berliner Schloss – Humboldt Forum ( – Humboldt Forum Foundation).

► bears particular authenticity by carrying forward the location’s historical tradition

Today’s museum, library, and university collections all share a common origin in the Brandenburg-Prussian cabinets of art and curiosities originally located in the Berlin Palace. Today, they are returning to their place of origin. In the future entrance hall of the palace, the cabinet of art will again be erected, staged this time however as a modern, global microcosm that no longer presents ‘strange’ curiosities or rare artifacts, but rather evidences an equitable dialogue among cultures that has developed over centuries.

► not monolithic, but integrated

Located in the newly rebuilt Berlin Palace, the Humboldt-Forum will not stand alone: It will serve as a complement to the . With its outstanding collections of art and culture from Europe and the ancient Near East, the Museum Island represents the vision of the 19th century. The establishment of the Humboldt-Forum, nearly 200 years after the founding of the (Old Museum), will create a unique centre for the arts and cultures of Asia, Africa, America, Australia, and Oceania. This configuration of Berlin’s newly redesigned city centre will lend the city even greater international recognition as a cultural metropolis.

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► an ideal space for new collaborations

Given its roster of actors and partners, the Humboldt-Forum’s expertise lies in interweaving art, culture, nature, science, research, and education, both in terms of content and physical presentation. Emphasising an interdisciplinary, collaborative dialogue among museums, a library, and the Humboldt-Universität – a dialogue that speaks to both academic audiences as well as the general public – the Humboldt-Forum will serve as a centre to attempt new forms of collaboration. Academic and artistic ways of working will be brought to bear on one another, particularly in the context of interdisciplinary and international collaborations.

► an event centre, museum, library, and university under one roof

Despite the fact that most of the Humboldt-Forum’s physical space will be occupied by its two museums – the Ethnologisches Museum (Ethnological Museum) and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst (Asian Art Museum), with their important non-European collections – the Humboldt-Forum will be more than a museum. In an era of progressive globalisation, the collections are no longer to be understood ‘only’ as testaments to the past, but should also provide points of reference for important contemporary questions. As the backbone of the Humboldt- Forum, they should find their context in the contemporary world more concretely than before. What effects do changes to our environment, our climate, and our lived reality have on humanity and its cultural production? What answer(s) can these collections provide? How is this currently investigated at universities across the globe? What role does science play in everyday life? The Humboldt-Forum links these collections to such questions, as well as to curatorial practice.

► a place for exchange and dialogue among people, cultures, science, and education

The Humboldt-Forum’s partners strive to create open dialogues and interactive presentations. In this regard, they are also drawing on a tradition: Like few others of his time, Wilhelm von Humboldt grasped the importance of language and communication – in understanding other cultures, as well as appreciating art and culture. The Humboldt-Universität has developed a laboratory of science communication, in which scientific discoveries are contextualised in culture and everyday life through dynamic exhibitions and events. Working together with library collections from participating museums, they will form knowledge workshops, laying another important conceptual foundation for the forum.

► an opportunity to change one’s perspective

The most important principles for the new presentation of the museum collections in the Humboldt-Forum are: multi-perspectivism, topical relevance, and a focus on the audience. Conceptually, the museums’ fundamental organisation by continent and region will be maintained. Presentations based on ethnographic, artistic, or cultural- historical material however, will be broken up by activity areas, thematic modules, Meeting Points, showcases , and sections for young visitors. In addition, there will be a greater emphasis placed on the collections’ relevance to the present moment, and a changing focus on historical developments and artistic expression, as well as traditional ethnological questions. This will be accomplished by a variety of narrative perspectives, whether it be from a curatorial, scientific, or artistic angle, or by people from the region from which the respective objects originated.

► an ‘open’ house for everyone

The Humboldt-Forum should be accessible to all people – regardless of origin, age, training, interests, previous knowledge, or preferences. Berlin residents should feel just as inspired as foreign guests, children as much as seniors, art-and-culture lovers as much as specialised academics. The forum invites one to make his or her own discoveries, experiences, and realisations, and to do this as freely as possible.

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