Fellow me!

The Mobile Academy in the International Museum Fellowship Programme 2013/2014

Leere Vitrinen, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Foto: Carola Radke, 2013

What does the future hold for museums? How are scientific-curatorial approaches changing as a result of increasing internationalisation? What impact are social networks having on traditional forms of presentation? How do we spark interest in groups which have shown little or no interest in museums before?

A six-part event series titled “Fellow Me! The Mobile Academy in the International Museum Fellowship Programme” addressed these and related questions between May 2013 and October 2014. The Academy took place at museums in Munich, Mönchengladbach, Herne, Dortmund, Essen, Berlin, Dresden, Dessau and Halle an der Saale.

A total of 18 international fellows from diverse disciplines worked at German museums for 18 months on project-oriented tasks. During their visits, they discussed specific museological issues with one another and become acquainted first-hand with the German museum system. The fellows presented and discussed broader issues concerning museum reorientation, international cooperation and their own research activities.

The Academy Programme, in which various cooperation partners and academic institutions were participating, comprised a kick-off event, workshops, seminars, symposia, discussion events and a colloquium with international experts, to which the general public was cordially invited.


Event venues

 

4–8 May 2013, Munich
The Love of Collecting, the Load of Collecting
Conference and excursion in cooperation with the German Museum Association at the Bavarian Academy of the Sciences, the Deutsches Museum and the Goethe-Institut

14–18 July 2013, Rhine-Ruhr region
The Museum as an Architectural and Social Space
Workshops and excursions; Museum Abteiberg Mönchengladbach, Dortmunder U, Ruhr Museum Essen, Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum Cologne, LWL Museum of Archaeology in Herne

14–18 October 2013 & winter semester 2013/14, Berlin
How Do You Exhibit History?
Workshop, salon and seminar; German Historical Museum in cooperation with the Humboldt University and the TU Berlin, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin

20–22 February 2014, Dresden
Media - War - Death - Museum
Symposium, Round Table and excursion; German Hygiene Museum Dresden, Museum of Military History, State Art Collections in Dresden

15–17 May 2014, Halle /Saale and Dessau
The Museum – Part Wunderkammer, Part Future Lab
Colloquium; Franckesche Stiftungen, Federal Cultural Foundation, Central Storehouse of Natural Scientific Collections Halle /Saale, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation15–17 October 2014, Halle /Saale
City-Museum-City
Discussion event, Workshop, excursion; In reference to the exhibition “Heimat Halle-Neustadt” the Mobile Academy held a two-day event to examine the current role of city museums

 

Discussion event "City-Museum-City" 15 October 2014

Wednesday, 15 October 2014, 7 pm, foyer of the Federal Cultural Foundation, Franckeplatz 2, Halle

Discussion event as part of the 6th station of the Mobile Academy “Fellow me!”

On the occasion of the exhibition “Heimat Halle-Neustadt” by the Stadtmuseum Halle an der Saale and the University of Art and Design Burg Giebichenstein, this station of the Mobile Academy examined the role of city museums. How can museums, which represent their city and regional history, tie into current events taking place in their region?
The event opened with two “impulse” presentations by Susanne Feldmann (Stadtmuseum Halle) and Susanne Gesser (Historisches Museum Frankfurt) which provided examples of active forms of presentation. Experts, fellows, students, curators and the general public were cordially invited to exchange views on the current role of city and regional museums today.

Colloquium "The Museum – Part Wunderkammer, Part Future Lab" 15 May 2014

The event was open to the professional public, students and museum enthusiasts.

Museums are exposed to constant processes of transformation. How are such processes shaped? In our Academy Station event, we examined the physical presence of collections in exhibition settings and the concept of the museum as a static space. How can we shape, open and expand this space? Can museums evolve from their original, restricted structure? By putting the display and interaction of museums to the test, we hope to gain new perspectives in structurally redesigning the museum.

Hashtag: #MusFuture

Programme

4:30 pm: Admission
5 pm: Welcome // Presentation: “Fellow Pitch - 18 Fellows x 150 Seconds” // Moderated by: Achim Reisdorf, University of Basel / CH
6:45 pm: Break
7 pm: Keynote speeches // “Best Practices in Access Design“: John-Paul Sumner, Learning and Access Curator at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow / UK // “Museumsdesign von morgen” (Museum Design of Tomorrow): Hartwig Fischer, General Director of the Dresden State Art Collections
8 pm: Discussion // John-Paul Sumner and Hartwig Fischer // Moderated by: Julia Voss, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
8:30 pm: Reception in the museum café until 9:30 pm

The International Museum Fellowship programme

With this funding programme, the Federal Cultural Foundation enables guest curators and researchers from abroad to work at museums or public collections in Germany for a duration of 18 months.

International Museum Fellowship (external link, opens in a new window)

Website "Fellow me!"

Die Site dokumentiert die sechs Stationen der mobilen Akademie. Mit Fotostrecken, Videoporträts, ausführlichen Informationen und Termintipps.

www.fellow-me.de (external link, opens in a new window)

Discussion event "City-Museum-City"

On 15 October 2014, the Mobile Academy “Fellow me!” hosted a discussion on the current role of city museums in the foyer of the Federal Cultural Foundation.

More (Website in german) (external link, opens in a new window)

Flyer Discussion event (PDF in german) (opens in a new window)

Fellow me! Website

The Fellow me! website documents the six-part Mobile Academy series with photo spreads, video portraits and in-depth information.

www.fellow-me.de (external link, opens in a new window)

Flyer Symposium "Media - War - Death - Museum" 21 February 2014

Colloquium "The Museum – Part Wunderkammer, Part Future Lab"

The colloquium (#MusFuture) took place in Halle an der Saale on 15 May 2014. The debate focused on questions concerning the display and interaction at museums in the future.

Flyer Colloquium (PDF in german) (opens in a new window)

Contact

Dr. Marie Cathleen Haff
Kulturstiftung des Bundes

Franckeplatz 2

06110 Halle (Saale)

Tel.: +49 (0)345 279 52 386

Fax.: +49 (0)345 2997 333

E-mail to Dr. Marie Cathleen Haff
Kulturstiftung des Bundes