Museum Natur und Mensch
In the special exhibition, selected highlights from the fields of ethnology and natural history, such as a Japanese Buddha statue and a magnificent quetzal, tell a variety of stories. 125 contributions from experts, artists and friends are dedicated to the eventful history of the museum or special features of the exhibits, some of which reveal decidedly personal takes.
A Change of Perspective for the Anniversary Celebration
The Museum Natur und Mensch is using its 125th anniversary as an opportunity to shirt and change perspectives. The focus is on the many stories behind the objects, which provide new insights into the museum, its history and collections. Three authors with different backgrounds were invited to contribute their voices per chosen object from the natural history and ethnological collections. For the anniversary, 125 previously untold stories will be “unpacked”. The various authors engage with the museum in a manner that is multivoiced, creative, critical, of equal standing and also personal. The hitherto unknown becomes visible, the familiar is viewed in a new way. The exhibition challenges us to question our received assumptions and habits regarding what we know and how we interpret this knowledge, and anticipates more than one answer. Plurality creates space for critical reflection and diversity. Become involved in the experiment of getting to know the museum (anew) and the stories it preserves through a variety of unusual perspectives on objects, collectors and contemporary events.
History. Moves. The Present.
The museum has a colourful history. In every era, it was and is influenced by the prevailing social and scientific zeitgeist. Local and global events, as well as individuals, shape its development. A look into the museum’s history not only provides insights into the past, it also helps us understand our present: how, by whom, and why were objects collected? What events, people, or places do they bear witness to? What was chosen for presentation, what remained in the store rooms, their (hi)stories untold? How is Freiburg interwoven with global history through the collections? The museum’s holdings, testimonies to the world’s natural and cultural heritage, continue to be both the foundations and the limitations that shape it today.
The Freiburg “Faunengruppen” (fauna groups) were created in the turbulent period before the First World War. New museum rooms enabled the showcasing of faunal regions with their “characteristic” representatives on a large scale. To enhance the effect of the groups, a scene painter from the theatre added landscape panoramas to them, thus turning them into dioramas. The ibex on an artificial rock crowned the group of Alpine fauna. At that time, it was rare to find one alive in the Savoy Alps. It indicates a loss and can therefore still affect us in a special way today.
Susanne Köstering, historian
My grandfather, Johannes Christian Heldt, was a captain on the Woermann Line, a Hamburg shipping company that provided the former colonies of the German Empire with goods and brought their products to Germany as part of the Africa liner service. Most African ports had not yet been developed and the ships took a long time to berth. There were certainly opportunities for my grandfather to trade or buy baskets, figures or spears from the locals. The large size of your collection, for which my grandfather was responsible, suggests that the items were collected specifically.
Eiler Heldt, the collectors grandson
Listen to more exciting stories about this object, written by experts, artists and friends for the Museum Natur und Mensch’s 125th anniversary and read by Zoe Knapp and David Köhne.
Networks. Connecting. Stories.
The museum is connected to the world through its objects. They form the starting point for historical and current networks: collectors, representatives of copyright societies, experts and visitors are constantly contributing new knowledge, memories and attributions of meaning. As a site of knowledge transfer, the museum explores the multivalence of objects as a core part of its work and remit: which individual biographies are connected to collections? What local and global relationships can be traced through them? How do attributions change over time? Diverse perspectives make the museum a vibrant place of networking and allow us to constantly learn about new things about the objects.
The African buffalo is also known as the Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer) and was first named as such by the Swedish doctor and botanist, Anders Sparrman in 1779. The term “Kaffer” is of Arabic origin and was used pejoratively in the context of German colonial history for various societies in southern Africa. Today it is considered deeply racist and is even banned in South Africa. The fact that the African buffalo is still referred to by this name is, unfortunately, a continuation of a long history of exploitation, colonisation and discrimination.
Sibille Merz, sociologist of science
Listen to more exciting stories about this object, written by experts, artists and friends for the Museum Natur und Mensch’s 125th anniversary and read by Zoe Knapp and David Köhne.
Knowledge. Communicating. Diversity.
Within their remits as scientific disciplines, natural history and ethnology draw on specific knowledge and professional expertise. This enables the museum to fulfil its tasks – collecting, conserving, research and communication. However, some work processes take place behind the scenes and remain invisible to visitors. These interior views, which would otherwise not find their way into exhibitions, generate new insights: what do taxidermists and restorers do? How are collections processed and organised? How is knowledge imparted? Many hands work together so that the museum can preserve the natural and cultural diversity that it conserves, make it publicly accessible and pass it on to the next generation.
In the summer of 1993, I was lucky enough to be allowed to participate as an archaeological assistant in the excavation of leaf fossils in the Bohlinger Schlucht. Although we cut the slabs out of a hollow in the hillside, the area was a tree-lined riverbank at the time the fossils were formed. The carbonised leaves acted as a separating layer in the surrounding clay marl. So when you cut a slab with a small chisel, it literally jumped out at you. All you had to do was turn it over and you were face to face with 13.5-million-year-old leaves. Definitely “magic moments” in my working life!
Daniela Reininghaus, museum conservator
In addition to restoration, the tasks of a conservator include the supervision of the objects for an exhibition. This supervision begins with carefully packing the items for transport to the exhibition site. In the case of the feather ornament, for example, this means protecting the highly pressure-sensitive feathers. For the presentation in the exhibition, a mount is devised that fits into the overall concept but does not damage the object. During the exhibition, environmental conditions, such as light and climate, i.e. temperature and humidity, must also be controlled. The return journey must be just as carefully managed.
Diane Lanz, museum conservator
Listen to more exciting stories about this object, written by experts, artists and friends for the Museum Natur und Mensch’s 125th anniversary and read by Zoe Knapp and David Köhne.
Bärbel the cow. Yes, that is the name of the small Hinterwald cow. Pretty little Bärbel became a showpiece in the central depot and made everyone’s heart skip a beat. However, the permanent exhibition was to become her last home. Since 2015, Bärbel the cow has been standing in a meadow as a representative of an old, regional cattle breed and a symbol of the diversity of the natural environment of southern Baden. This was to be the finale, the icing on the cake. After twenty years of planning, thinking, implementing, discarding and rethinking, the last room was finished. Our Bärbel inside – contented, stoic and proud.
Caroline Hilti, biologist
Listen to more exciting stories about this object, written by experts, artists and friends for the Museum Natur und Mensch’s 125th anniversary and read by Zoe Knapp and David Köhne.
Unpacked! – Listen to the stories!
Now listen to exciting (hi)stories about these objects: the actors Zoe Knapp and David Köhne animate the stories from the catalogue as told by the external authors for the anniversary exhibition..
The audio recordings were made in the style of the reading evenings in the special exhibition. In the Autumn of 2020, the MNM invited its guests to experience selected texts in the exhibition space as interpreted by the actors.
Listen in to the MNM anniversary celebration! We hope you enjoy it!
Exhibition catalogue
Ausgepackt!: 125 Jahre Geschichte(n) im Museum Natur und Mensch. Hrsg. von Tina Brüderlin, Stefanie Schien und Silke Stoll für das Museum Natur und Mensch, Städtische Museen Freiburg. Petersberg: Michael Imhof Verlag 2020.
The exhibition catalogue is available in the museum shop.