Wrangling over jurisdiction: Humboldt Forum remains a construction site

Created: 2022-12-29Updated: 2022-12-29 09:32

The culture and museum center Humboldt Forum at Schlossplatz and the television tower in Berlin Mitte.

© Jens Kalaene/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa/Archive image

It is intended to be a cultural flagship with international glamor in the heart of the capital.

But the Humboldt Forum in Berlin can't get rid of its teething problems.

Now the consequences are emerging.

Berlin - Germany's currently most important cultural project remains a construction site even in the first year of its opening.

Whether unclear responsibilities, doubts about the concept, controversial donations, disputes about the cross and quotations from the Bible - the federal project is in a permanent crisis.

Four of the most important players explained how the Humboldt Forum can continue in discussions with dpa: General Director Hartmut Dorgerloh, Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth, Berlin's Senator for Culture Klaus Lederer and the President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Hermann Parzinger.

The around 40,000 square meters of the 680 million euro Humboldt Forum behind the controversial palace facade are shared by two museums of the Prussian Foundation, the State of Berlin, the Humboldt University and the Humboldt Forum Foundation.

Exhibits from Asia, Africa, America and Oceania as well as objects relating to the history of Berlin are on display.

Donations - how much private influence is allowed?

After donations from controversial sources, Roth wants clearer conditions.

"When it comes to donors, trust is good, but transparency is better," said the Greens politician.

As a first step, the donation guidelines have been revised and significantly tightened.

Statements by a donor who had already died that had been interpreted as anti-Semitic and anti-democratic had previously been discussed.

The controversial baroque facade was financed with more than 100 million euros from private donations raised by the private association Berliner Schloss.

Roth announced renewed talks with the club.

"I'm irritated by some of the substantive statements from this group and I'm not satisfied with the lack of transparency that prevails here," she said.

Maximum possible transparency must be in everyone's interest.

"Otherwise a shadow will weigh on it." Roth also made clear the limits of responsibility: "The program work of the Humboldt Forum is not the responsibility of the association."

Dorgerloh sees a turning point in the cooperation.

"From our point of view, the activity of the association has been successfully completed," he said.

The main goal of the work of the association was donations for the reconstruction.

Dorgerloh: "We see ourselves as a place free from racism, free from discrimination, free from anti-Semitism." With all acceptance of diversity and freedom of expression, these are the limits.

"Anonymous donations whose origin is unknown," we don't want to and are not allowed to accept anymore.

For Lederer, a lot went wrong with the donation practice.

"You certainly can't get that corrected retrospectively." Now it's a matter of who is shaping which future of the Humboldt Forum.

"I believe that it is time to draw a clear line against the subtle attempts by the association to help determine the program of science and culture there."

What next with the Christian cross and Bible verse?

Roth advocated a critical approach to the controversial Christian symbols on the building.

“The Humboldt Forum is not a sacred building.

It's a replica dome with an inscription and there's a cross on it, without the original chapel being rebuilt underneath," she said.

"The Humboldt Forum's claim is and should be to be an institution open to world culture that also faces its own colonial history." Therefore, it must be explained what the dome with cross and the banner with combined quotations from the Bible mean historically there.

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My space

For Dorgerloh, the discussion is also based on the history of the origins with the reconstruction of the facades and dome.

"That's just one of the consequences that you may not have thought through to the end," he said.

The construction remains a topic of the program work.

"The Humboldt Forum is an occasion for stories about dealing with history as well as dealing with religious symbols."

The inscription is now to cover a temporary work of art.

"The idea of ​​this art project is that at night, when the reconstructed inscription is not legible, you can read a different text at this point," Dorgerloh explained.

The reconstructed inscription will continue to be visible during the day.

Complicated structure - who is allowed to do what?

Parzinger hopes for clearer structures.

"Sometimes there's already a jurisdictional wrangling: who speaks for what?" he said.

"There are many interfaces that need to be clarified." On the one hand, the museums use the permanent exhibition, but the temporary exhibitions are curated together with the Humboldt Forum Foundation.

In his view, the envisaged coupling of both institutions would be one way.

"A connection would have great benefits," he said.

"It's not about incorporation, but about the Humboldt Forum being managed holistically and the director also taking responsibility for the two state museums."

A close connection would also “really make sense” for Roth.

There is a test for that.

“The structure, the governance simply has to change.

So far, this has made little sense.”

For Dorgerloh, the forum showed "a functioning structure" in the first year with open doors.

"However, we notice that we have to create more common ground, especially in the program work." The cooperation with the state museums must be structurally improved.

He sees a "need for readjustment".

Lederer spoke of a "bundle of problems that have to be tackled".

The forum is a unique place that needs its own strategy.

He identifies one of the design flaws in the fact that the Museum of European Cultures is not located in the forum.

This "also creates an exoticization of what is explicitly represented in the Humboldt Forum".

New unrest - is Berlin leaving the Humboldt Forum?

Lederer could provide space himself.

The Berlin share is under scrutiny.

It is "a conceivable option to rearrange the roles and functions of those involved in the event of an unbundling in the company," he said.

The "Berlin Global" exhibition will continue.

"But it remains to be clarified whether there will be a place for the state of Berlin there in the future that is compatible with a uniform profile and the uniform strategic orientation of the house or whether there are other options." He wants to do this with an open mind discuss covenant.

"A move out of the city museum can be a result of such an exchange," he said.

"The city museum must also consider in perspective where the forces are to be concentrated." Demands on contemporary museum work would not decrease, but resources would not infinitely increase either.

Finances - how much can the Humboldt Forum cost?

Dorgerloh points out that 2023 will be the first year that will be completely open.

"Only then can we know what the operation of the house actually costs." The budget was reduced by five million euros, special subsidies of 26.3 million euros have been used up, and there are no new ones in sight.

"Especially in international cooperation, however, we will also need reliable foundations in the future in order to be able to work together with many partners in a trust-building manner in the long term," he said.

Costs for regular operation were related to the size of the place, "but a new house in the dimensions of the old castle was exactly what was wanted politically." dpa