Dr. Stephanie Pearson
  • Home
  • Projects
    • museums.love
    • Uncertainty and Debate
    • Mithras Model & Audio
    • Weltverbesserer Interview
  • CV
    • Employment
    • Education
    • Museum Experience
    • Professional Training
    • Publications
    • Awards & Grants
    • Teaching
    • Invited Lectures
    • Workshops & Chaired Sessions
    • Conference Papers
    • Professional Engagement
    • Excavation
  • Exhibition Reviews
    • Anna Dorothea Therbusch
    • Making Ancient Art Contemporary
    • Cleopatra
    • Pompeii and Herculaneum
  • Tours
  • Ideas on Display (blog)

Next Stop: Artifacts with Audio - Hamburg Archaeological Museum

9/12/2017

Comments

 
Picture
The upper floor of Hamburg's Archaeological Museum doesn't plunge the visitor into an immersive landscape as the lower floor does (subject of the last post). Rather than turning windowless walls into a black cave, this floor uses walls of windows to leverage its position on a park and pedestrian walk, bringing inside the natural light and greenery.

​In one section of this airy space is an exhibit highlighting artifacts found around the museum. Arranged on a transit map of the area (similar to this room of Berlin's Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum), the objects each have a grab bar near them like those in a bus or tram—complete with the red STOP button! When you push the button, a voice from the speaker in the pedestal first announces the name of the transit stop and then tells you about the artifact found there. It's a playful and effective way to show the visitor that history really comes from the places she commutes every day. Announcing the name of the stop reinforces this, as well as the transit theme itself. And ask any five-year-old: who doesn't love pressing those buttons!?
Picture
Comments

Prehistoric Playland - Hamburg Archaeological Museum

9/8/2017

Comments

 
Picture
Hamburg's Archaeological Museum in Harburg is a gem. The first-floor gallery, pictured above, is relatively small but packed with wildly creative displays. An artificial dirt-and-rock floor (all glued down, safe to walk and scramble on) strikes the right tone for the prehistoric collections. Just so the dark ceiling, recalling a cave or perhaps the night sky. It's atmospheric, certainly; but more than that, the playfulness helps to emphasize the content rather than distracting from it. Who could expect otherwise from the creative team, Ravensberger Freizeit und Promotion, famous for their educational board games! Here are just a few examples:
The entrance is flanked by massive, glowing, blue-green pillars to either side. Upon closer inspection, they turn out to be towers of ice cube trays! Why? The text alongside explains how the landscape around Hamburg was carved by glacial action. Aha!

Built into the floor beside this pillar (detail below; another can be seen in the room view above) is a glass plate. It has a blue cast to all but two spots, where goggles are placed on the glass with a clear view onto the antlers, pot sherds, and other artifacts from this area. This is a strong invitation to get close and peer inside.
Picture
Picture
Another eye-catching display is a huge sardine tin, nearly two meters long, its lid peeled back to reveal the delicacies inside. Not sardines per se, but a variety of artifacts related to prehistoric fishing techniques. A pile of fish bones (bottom center) attests to their success.
Picture
A pile of TVs alight with flickering flames (right) draws attention to the section about fire: its invention, how it was first made, and how it changed eating habits for early man. But the TVs aren't just a flashy gimmick: the text points out that just as our ancestors sat around the fire at night for community and entertainment, so today we sit around the TV for similar reasons!

One of the most rewarding parts of my visit was seeing a group of four-year-olds put these displays to the test, climbing the rocks, lifting the lids, pulling and peeking and, well, engaging! (Which makes a person appreciate how kid-proof it all is, to still look new after 8 years of such rigorous testing.) My next post will turn to the second-floor gallery, quite different in atmosphere but equally creative.
Picture
Comments
    Ideas on Display
    A humble space to reflect on concepts of museum display as enacted across a wide range of subjects, countries, and approaches.

    Archives

    April 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014

    Categories

    All
    Amsterdam
    Anthropology
    Archaeology
    Architecture
    Art
    Article
    Audio
    Award
    Behind The Scenes
    Berlin
    Boston
    Bulgaria
    California
    Chicago
    China
    Color
    Conservation
    Copenhagen
    Denmark
    Diagram
    Difficult Heritage
    Digital
    Display Case
    Dresden
    Egyptian
    Exhibition Outside Museum
    External Website
    Fashion
    Florida
    Frame
    France
    Germany
    Greek
    Halle
    Hamburg
    Hands On
    Hands-on
    Hanover
    Illinois
    Interactive
    Islamic
    Italy
    Kids
    Lighting
    London
    Los Angeles
    Map
    Marketing
    Marrakech
    Minnesota
    Missouri
    Morocco
    Movement
    Munich
    Nature
    Netherlands
    New York
    North Carolina
    Nuremberg
    Outdoor
    Painting
    Paris
    Pennsylvania
    Photography
    Roman
    Rome
    Shelving
    Signage
    Space
    Spain
    Switzerland
    Texas
    Text
    Turkey
    UK
    USA
    Video
    Women
    World War 2

    RSS Feed

Contact
Stephanie Pearson
steph [at] stephpearson.com