The multiplicity of voices inherent in the Humboldt Forum’s programme is reflected in its institutional collaborations. The Humboldt Forum represents a pioneering partnership between four experienced partners from the cultural and academic field.

What we are

The Humboldt Forum is taking shape in the historical heart of Berlin as a unique place of inquiry and encounters. A place with a significant past. A place for the arts and sciences, for exchange, diversity and a multiplicity of voices. A place where differences come together.

More than a museum

The outstanding collections that have been assembled under one roof and the varied programme of exhibitions, events and educational and digital offerings inspire visitors to gain new insights into the world of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Who we are

One house, four partners – the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz with the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, the Stadtmuseum Berlin together with Kulturprojekte Berlin, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss are working together on developing this pioneering model.

Partners

Mutual understanding and Mission Statement

A joint statement by its partners defines the mutual understanding and goals of the Humboldt Forum. Developed by employees of all partners, the mission statement with its five guiding principles serves as an orientation for the joint work on this unique project.

Mutual understanding and goals

What are the themes of the Humboldt Forum? In a statement, the heads of the Forum’s four stakeholders set out a shared conception of the arts, cultures and sciences.
read the statement

Mission Statement

How do we want to work together at the Humboldt Forum? Staff members representing all stakeholders have discussed this question and drawn up five guiding principles that will guide how we act on a day-to-day basis.
read the statement

Governance

The general director determines the overall concept and the basic curatorial orientation of the Humboldt Forum. All partners exchange views about the programme’s orientation in a permanent management conference, in which all partners are represented.

HARTMUT DORGERLOH

Director

The art historian, curator of monuments and cultural manager Prof. Dr. Hartmut Dorgerloh is general director and chief executive officer of the Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss. After senior roles in the Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur in the state of Brandenburg and as the founding director of the Haus der Brandenburgisch-Preußischen Geschichte in Potsdam, he was general director of the Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg from 2002 to 2018. Since 2004 he has lectured as an honorary professor at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

PAUL SPIES

Chief Curator for the state of Berlin in the Humboldt Forum

Paul Spies is director of the Stadtmuseums Berlin and is one of the leading thinkers in the international discussion about the future of city museums. The art historian and archaeologist headed the Amsterdam Museum from 2009 to 2015 and set up the Amsterdam Heritage Museum network.

LARS-CHRISTIAN KOCH

Director for the Collections of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in the Humboldt Forum

The music ethnologist and ethnologist Prof. Dr. Lars-Christian Koch is in charge of the collections of the Ethnologisches Meuseum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst. From 2003 to 2018 he was head of the department for media and music ethnology, visual anthropology and the phonogramme archive at the Ethnologisches Museum of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. He is also an associate professor of music ethnology at the Universität zu Köln and honorary professor at the Universität der Künste in Berlin.

Julia von Blumenthal

President of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin at the Stiftung Humboldt Forum

The political scientist Prof. Dr Julia von Blumenthal has been President of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin since 2022. From 2018 to 2022, she was President of the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder). Since 2009, she has held the professorship for Domestic Politics of the Federal Republic of Germany at the Institute for Social Sciences at Humboldt-Universität.

Publications

Books and catalogs accompany the future programme of the Humboldt Forum, take up current debates and address topics such as architecture, reconstruction, the history of the site and (post)colonial questions.

© SHF / David von Becker

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