Theatre of Knowledge, Exhibition Space,
Object Lab
Built in 1790, the neoclassical Tieranatomisches Theater (TA T,
Veterinary Anatomy Theatre) is Berlin’s oldest still existing academic
building and a unique architectural monument. For more
than 200 years, it has provided Berlin University (today: Humboldt-
Universität) with a spectacular stage. Today, the Hermann
von Helmholtz-Centre for Cultural Techniques is further developing
this historic space as a public cultural venue in the heart of
the city.
Our mission is to operate the Tieranatomisches Theater as a lab
for advanced inquiries into strategies of display. The goal is to
create experimental, critical and multifaceted knowledge exhibitions
on material culture and the practice of collections. Collaborations
with university collections and institutes, museums,
and partners from science and art, stimulate a transfer between
humanities, sciences and artistic approaches as well as between
academia and the public sphere. Performative events, public
symposia and lecture series complement the exhibitions. Interdisciplinary
exchange is equally important as are intercultural
and gender aware perspectives. The Tieranatomisches Theater
offers an object lab space for applied museology and collection
research to the Humboldt-Universität’s almost 40 collections.
TA T features a gallery for a permanent exhibition on the building’s
architecture and the history of veterinary medicine. Spaces
for temporary exhibitions and performances comprise a large
gallery and rotunda on the ground floor as well as four rooms,
the historic library and the anatomy theatre on the upper floor.
The total exhibition and performance space is 740 square metres.
Helmholtz-Centre for Cultural Techniques
Since 2012, the TA T has been operated by the Helmholtz Centre
(HZK), a central institute at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
The HZK departments consolidate research on material culture
and collections. Disciplinary knowledge on material objects is
linked with interdisciplinary methodology to investigate historic,
current and future research questions.
Partners
Projects at the Tieranatomisches Theater exist within a large
network of institutional and interdisciplinary collaboration.
While most projects are initiated by the Helmholtz Centre, initiatives
from partner institutions, independent curators, artists
and designers are also welcome and are collectively realised after
evaluation by the programme committee.
Since 2013, a number of exhibitions and series of events have
been developed by TA T with Humboldt-Universität’s collections
and institutes, other universities, museums, foundations, theater
and music ensembles and many other cultural practitioners.