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Whether in the staircase hall, on the roof terrace or in the middle of the exhibition spaces - the areas of the Berlin Humboldt Forum are home to numerous works of contemporary art, some of which take up large spaces.


In four competitions for seven locations in the Humboldt Forum, for example, artists were invited to address the history of the site, its future use as an exhibition and event centre, as a place of education and science in the context of Humboldt's ideas, or the external appearance of the building. Seven works of art-on-building were realised that deal with the history of the site, with the Humboldt Forum as a "place of the world", of encounter and exchange, that make reference to colonialism and coloniality or pay tribute to the namesakes, the brothers Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt.

These include:

  • Dellbrügge & de Moll The Architects (ground floor Small Foyer, in front of Halls 1 + 2)
  • Stefan Sous ZEITMASCHINE (2nd floor foyer in front of the Berlin exhibition)
  • An Seebach / Christiane Stegat: GLOBAL BAROCC - CCORAB LABOLG (2nd floor Ethnological Collections, staircases 2nd + 3rd floor)
  • Tim Trantenroth Untitled (2nd floor Ethnological Collections, 2nd + 3rd floor stairwell)
  • Kang Sunkoo Statue of Limitations (2nd + 3rd floor Central stairwell)
  • Antje Schiffers / Thomas Sprenger Insurgentes Sur (Roof Terrace)
  • Emeka Ogboh The Cosmos - Things Fall Apart (Roof Terrace)
Works by artists from various societies of origin also enrich the collections of the Ethnological Museum, the Museum of Asian Art and the Land Berlin.

Whether Ai Wei Wei's Teahouse under a contemporary interpretation of a Chinese pagoda roof by Pritzker Prize winner Wang Shu or the modern interpretation of a teahouse by the architectural firm URA Architects & Engineers, all works invite exciting discussions.

To be discovered are, for example:

  • Untitled by fashion designer Cynthia Schimming in the Namibia Collections
  • Township Walls by António Ole in the Africa section
  • "Codex Humboldt Fragment 1 / Codex Azoyú Reverso by the artist Mariana Castillo Deball in Mesoamerica
  • the installation Indignation by Justine Gaga in the module Colonial Entanglements
  • the 375 m² mural: New York Urban Artists How and Nosm (Berlin Global)
  • the teahouse developed by URA Architects from Kanazawa (Japan) in close coordination with the Chado Urasenke Teeweg Association in Berlin in the module "Art and Cult. Sacred Art in China and Japan
  • the artwork "The King, The Priest, The Chosen One" by Victor Ekihkamenor in the exhibition area "The Kingdom of Benin" of the Ethnological Museum
In addition to these examples, there are many other exciting works to be discovered. Except for the Berlin Global exhibition and the special exhibition areas, all areas in the Humboldt Forum are accessible free of charge. Go on a tour of discovery.


Additional information
Opening hours
Open Mondays to Thursdays from 10 am - 8 pm, Fridays and Saturdays from 10 am - 10 pm and Sundays from 10 am - 8 pm. Tuesday is a regular closing day.

Changed opening hours
  • 24.12.2022: closed
  • 25.12.2022: 12 am - 6 pm
  • 26.12.2022: 12-18 hrs
  • 31.12.2022: closed
  • 01.01.2023: 14 -20 h
Opening hours from 02.01.2023
Wednesday to Monday from 10:30 - 18:30, Tuesday is regular closing day.

Public transport: U-Bahn Museumsinsel (U5) 1 min walk; S/U Alexanderplatz 15 min walk; S Hackescher Markt 10 min walk, Bus 100, 200, 300, 147, N5

Our tip: Find good stories in good books and catalogues.
Two new interesting books came out in autumn:

Contemporary Art at the Humboldt Forum and The Humboldt Brothers. Stories from the Present, as always in a German and an English edition.

Contemporary Art in the Humboldt Forum is devoted in impressive photographs and inspiring text to the works of art on the building, but also to selected works of art on the premises of the Ethnological Museum, the Museum of Asian Art and BERLIN GLOBAL. Deutscher Kunstverlag, hardcover, 192 pages, 34.- Euro, ISBN 978-3-422-99031-9 EN

The Humboldt Brothers. Stories from the Present links the life and work of Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt with the programme of our museum. The book is based on the Humboldt exhibition in the Staircase and the Passage and continues it in an associative way. Prestel Verlag, softcover, 128 pages, 12.50 euros  

Therefore, also visit the shop at the Humboldt Forum, or order online.

Accessibility

Barrier-free parking is available south of the Humboldt Forum on Schlossplatz. Barrier-free parking is available south of the Humboldt Forum on Schlossplatz. For more information, click here.
Dates
March 2024
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