2_2_DiscoverGermany_February15_Issue23:Scan Magazine 1
26/1/15
15:29
Page 49
The Museum for Communication Berlin
Communication to touch Discover the past, present and future of the world of communication through exciting interactive exhibitions in a unique ambience. Permanent displays offer vivid insights into the history of the information society, while temporary ones showcase many different aspects of communication. TEXT: NANE STEINHOFF | PHOTOS: MUSEUMSSTIFTUNG POST UND TELEKOMMUNIKATION
“Our museum is for everybody and we encourage visitors to interact with our exhibitions. What makes us stand out is that we combine the benefits of a modern museum with the historical architecture of a building from the imperial period, while also offering a great variety according to our visitors,” Oliver Goetze, deputy director of the Museum for Communication Berlin, says. Being a diverse‘museum to touch’, visitors can send telegrams with an old tube mail or communicate with three autarchic robots. “It’s a real children’s magnet and some keep coming back, especially for the robots,” Mr Goetze adds.
Permanent exhibitions take visitors on time travel through the history of communication from the first petroglyphs and the ‘Blue Mauritius’, which is the world’s most famous postage stamp, to the first telephone from Philipp Reis and the Enigma – the German cipher machine of the Second World – to Facebook and Twitter. From April, the interactive ‘Dialogue with Time’ will demonstrate how it feels to age.“Onsite senior guides will encourage dialogue, while visitors will be able to open a door with shaky hands or see through eyes with cataracts. We are trying to show the challenges of growing old and to answer questions about the future,”Mr Goetze says.
Main image: The Museum for Communication. Photo: Michael Ehrhart Above: The ‘Lichthof’ is a popular venue available for hire for company events. Photo: Herbert Schlemmer (left) Permanent exhibition about communication history (shows the combination of historical architecture and modern communication history). Photo: Michael Ehrhart (middle) Temporary exhibition ‘Dialogue with Time’. Photo: Bert Bostelmann (right)
Until the end of February, ‘Around The World in 80 Things – The JulesVerne Code’, a visual and interactive world trip across time, will let visitors experience unconventional objects related to JulesVerne, such as a walking stick with an integrated compass, and will illustrate how we can explore the world today in real time with just one click of the mouse through an interactive‘Urban Observatory’. Since the museum’s opening in 1898, it has developed into more than just a place for exhibitions. Today, it is one of the most prominent addresses in Berlin when it comes to event venue hiring and high-profile companies value the combination of modernity and classical ambience in the world’s oldest postal museum for their receptions. www.mfk-berlin.de
Issue 23 | February 2015 | 49