Managing an Exhibition Project in the Midst of the Covid-19-Pandemic: A Case Study in Berlin, Germany

Abstract

This paper focuses on the experience of managing an exhibition project, undertaken by young professionals from the Museums of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in Berlin during the Covid-19 pandemic. The exhibition Status. Power. Movement was on display at the Berlin Cultural Forum (Kulturforum) from September 2020 to February 2021. In this interdisciplinary project, 13 co-curators selected 130 objects from 14 collections and asked how status is represented in movement. This article provides insight into how we experienced and dealt with the creation of our first exhibition amid an unprecedented crisis.

Our project was confronted with the reality of the unfolding pandemic and empty museums. Key questions and concerns arose, such as: can the exhibition be opened? How to manage the planning uncertainty and, furthermore, how to deal with this ubiquitous event in our exhibition? As a result of the considerable restrictions, communication processes within the team and collaboration with external partners became extremely difficult.

Our contribution adds a critical perspective from young professionals to the now-familiar discourse around museum work during a pandemic. In it, we share solutions we developed during the crisis, such as a Covid-19 themed intervention and the development of an online format for the exhibition. We additionally aim to show how we adapted our communication processes amid the crisis, working within a large cultural institution with multiple structural layers. Drawing on our experiences, we discuss issues of museum risk and crisis management. We also underline the need for a new critical discourse that would enable professionals to share experiences, responses and solutions to the ongoing pandemic and future crisis situations.

Keywords:

• exhibition management
• young professionals
• risk management
• Covid-19 pandemic
• Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation

Notes

1 The history of the National Museums in Berlin began over 130 years prior to the founding of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. In 1823, the Prussian King Frederick William III founded the Royal Museums of Berlin. Already claiming to be a universal museum, the collections were successively expanded. With the completion of the Altes Museum in 1830, the first museum building on Museum Island was completed (Wezel 2018, pp. 62-63). Located in the heart of the then-ruling Prussian Hohenzollern monarchy, opposite the since-rebuilt palace, the Royal Museums developed into one of the most important European collections in the fields of art, archaeology and ethnology. After World War I and the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II, the museums were renamed the National Museums.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Robert Hoffmann

Robert Hoffmann graduated from a Dual Degree Programme with an MA in World Heritage Studies from Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg in Germany, and a Master’s of Cultural Heritage from Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. He currently works as a scientific officer at the German Digital Library at the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in Berlin, assisting the management of the central office. He is interested in cultural management, disaster risk management and quality management in museums.

Christopher Hölzel

Christopher Hölzel holds an MA in Near Eastern Archaeology from the Freie Universität Berlin. He currently works as a research museum assistant for the Museum of the Ancient Near East at the National Museums in Berlin - Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, recently curating the exhibition Nebuchadnezzar in Socialism. The Vorderasiatisches Museum in the GDR. His interests focus on science history, the reception of ancient Western Asian art and culture in modern popular culture and science communication.

Henriette Henning

Henriette Henning holds an MA in Conservation from Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin, and is currently pursuing an MA in Heritage Studies and Cultural Heritage Management at the Europa University Viadrina. She is Project Coordinator at the Museum of Pre- and Early History at the National Museums in Berlin - Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, where she is notably responsible for the moving of a major collection. Her interests focus on cultural heritage preservation and management and raising awareness for conservation.