The Museum of the 21st Century
Content – Form – Impact
2015–2018

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS
The last thirty years have seen an unparalleled rise of new museum buildings all over the world with many more being planned right now. Next to their important role of conserving/presenting/discussing cultural values and acting as local social centres for education and citizenship, museums are enlarging their impact from the national to the global scale. In turn, the value of culture itself is in need of a clarifying debate. How is our local and national identity defined, now and for the future?

While the traditional museum functions of representation and education still prevail today, the 21st century's global, digital and demographic challenges have added more roles for the museum: Globalisation and digitalisation have left their marks on reception habits, fostering a service-oriented profile with more consumerist and entertaining aspects ('edu-tainment'). There is a new focus on the role of the museum as one of cultural 'storytelling' and situating that story in the context of a physical place. How does the museum of today and tomorrow look like? What functions do museums have today?

How can the accessibility of knowledge be ensured? What is the mutual influence between cultural and curatorial practice on the one hand and space generation and design practice on the other hand – as well as their impact on the surrounding urban scape? How can architects and curators, educators, artists and policy-makers design the tasks of new museums and reach the citizens, satisfy cultural and economic demands and connect them with design? How did the museum world manage to not only expand globally but also socially?

BACKGROUND
The Museum of the 21st Century sets forth to investigate the cultural, economic and socio-political contexts of new museums around three focal cluster Form – Content – Impact in order to create tools for both analysing and envisioning the museum of the future in sync with its direct environment and in view of local and global cultural discourses.

FORM: Museum as place
#form #publicspace #urbancontext #catalyst #tool #process #education #integration #inclusion #roleofarchitect #interaction #knowledge #documentation #typology
This cluster focuses on the appearance and form of the museum as a building and in its typology. Furthermore, the institution will be examined in an urban context and as a motor of development for the city and as incentive for public urban space. Questions about the architects role and architecture itself as innovative design for new museum forms such as archives, 'Schaulager' or process documentation are being raised on an international level.

CONTENT: Museum as medium
#content #communicationstrategies #digitalization #curatorialaspects #behaviour #technology #copyright #culturalvalue #rulesandlaws #history #postcolonialism #identity #globalization #heritage #education #research
Communication strategies, entertainment, education and implementation of digitalisation shape this cluster. Curatorial concepts and their respective impact on citizens, visitors and actors but also on technology and culture production are examined. We will explore the framework of administration, juridical rules, international cooperation and tax procedures. Through geopolitical analysis, cultural values and history, post-colonialism and identity in a globalised world will be analysed.

IMPACT: Museum as brand
#impact #partnerships #sponsorhip #privatemuseum #designasexport #tourism #creativeindustries #actorsandintentions #economicalinstrument #politics #brand #urbanmotor
In this cluster, the museum and new cooperations, such as private-public-partnerships, personalised museums are primarily positioned, while we explore how conditions obligations through sponsorships and supporters raise new questions. The past years have proven that the museum has become an export good and striking brand, often used as a factor in the tourism sector and creative industries. Therefore, the effect and influence on society and economy via the museum is increasing rapidly.

EVENTS
Australia Now Germany 2017. MUSEUM AS ACTIVATOR: Strategies for Public Space and Access with Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin and the Australian Government
Conference.Video Recording

Exhibition Talk. Space on Demand with Elizabeth Diller, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, New York and Chris Dercon, Director, Volksbühne Berlin
8 September 2017

Design Studio. Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT): Museums: art, culture, spectacle, access
2 - 15 September 2017

Exhibition Talk. Constructing Culture. Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District
26 May 2017
Video Recording

Symposium in Venice. Museums and Cultural Spaces as Motor of Urban and Social Progress with the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Moscow
24 September 2016
Video Recording

Exhibition. Zai Xing Tu-Mu. Sixteen Chinese Museums. Fifteen Chinese Architects with Zumtobel, Dornbirn
26 August - 13 October 2016

Lab Talk. Museum Revisited with Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
8 July 2016
Video Recording

Exhibition Talk. Marte. Marte: Appearing Sculptural. Museumsbauten in Krems und andere Projekte
11 December 2015

Dialogue. Das Kulturforum. Baukultur ohne Verfahrenskultur? Nikolaus Bernau in conversation with Volkwin Marg
25 September 2015
Video Recording

Collaborative Project. Future Urbanscape: Berlin's Kulturforum with ANCB's Architecture Schools in Residence
2015 - 2017
Documentation