A special exhibition about research projects — a new form of scientific communication

Abstract

As part of a recent development, special exhibitions can now be funded by research money in Germany. In this context, an interdisciplinary research association which investigates ancient civilizations from the 6 millennium BC to Late Antiquity under the title of “Topoi – The Formation and Transformation of Space and Knowledge in Ancient Civilizations” at Berlin, organizes its own special exhibition. It will display state of the art research temporarily to a wider public in summer 2012. Introduction A main task of university museums and collections has always been the linkage between research and a communication with the audience. As part of the large research group TOPOI – The Formation and Transformation of Space and Knowledge in Ancient Civilizations, several universities in Berlin and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin are currently preparing a big special exhibition, which is designed to present their current scholarly results, at least temporarily, to a broader public. It is a very recent development that the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the German Research Foundation, has opened the possibilities for special exhibitions to be funded by their granted research money. The funded exhibition should of course aim to display state of the art research. The Berlin exhibition project emerges directly from the ‘Excellence Initiative’ of the German Research Foundation and the creation of large interdisciplinary working groups in order to enhance the quality of German universities and research institutions. As a result, so called ‘Clusters of Excellence’ have been created as the biggest entities of scientific projects in Germany. In this context more and more grant applications include a public presentation of their current research in form of a special exhibition with the objective of imparting their knowledge to the communities. Under the main title Topoi, an interdisciplinary research association currently investigates ancient civilizations from the 6 millennium BC to Late Antiquity in Berlin. More than 200 scientists from diverse disciplines – such as ancient history, philosophy, linguistics, Egyptology, classical archaeology, prehistory, ancient Near Eastern studies and so on – investigate the formation and transformation of space and science in about 50 research groups pooled in five research areas. The applicant institutions are the Freie Universitat Berlin and the Humboldt-University of Berlin. There is an important group of further participating institutions, like the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften or the Deutsches Archaologisches Institut (DAI). A main partner is also the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz with its famous collections of antiquities mainly based on the Museum Island in Berlin. As part of this project there is also a research group called Museum which aims to assess how and with what effects ancient spaces, spatial imaginations, and spatial concepts are constructed, transformed, and received in exhibitions and museums. These investigations include a comparative approach to the tradition of the presentation of ancient cultures in museums and its impact on knowledge and thought about the ancient world. The group also seeks to survey and compare recent strategies and technologies of presentation in order to develop an appropriate strategy for further exhibitions and presentations. In addition a special working group is in charge for the concept and organization of the special exhibition, which will present some relevant fields and research topics to a wider audience. The