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There is no simple way to survey the 45 collections of the
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Their widely diverse affiliation
in terms of disciplines and departments, from archaeology to
zoology, implies a geographical dissemination across the entire
urban conglomeration of Berlin: from the main building at Unter
den Linden and the Central Library at the Jacob-und-Wilhelm-
Grimm-Zentrum in the middle of the city, to the Adlershof
campus and other locations, such as the arboretum in Treptow-
Köpenick, the wood cultivars in Zepernick, or a collection of
tropical domesticated plants in Dahlem.
On certain occasions, such as the ON THE EDGE exhibition,
a temporary but fragmentary synopsis is possible. And yet
alternating between a general account and focussing on a single
discipline has been a main feature of Berlin university collections
from their beginning. When the university was founded in 1810,
collections that had previously been housed privately or were
integral to the cabinet of curiosities at the Berliner Schloss
were amalgamated in the main campus at Unter den Linden. It
was only in the 19th century that further efforts were made at
separation by discipline, which in fact led to an increase in both
the body of objects and differentiation between collections. In
various areas and at various times, attention was paid in differing
degrees to the research and teaching collections. At times, much
care was devoted to curation and the collections were expanded;
at other times, a certain amount of neglect prevailed and even
– particularly during World War II – destruction. From the 1990s
on, however, the Humboldt university collections experienced
a renaissance with a reinvigoration of ideas through innovative
exhibition approaches that were at first developed outside
universities. In exhibition spaces, diverse groups of items from
the natural sciences and humanities, from everyday culture
and from art, were temporarily displayed to create a series
of interrelated and reciprocal associations. Such curatorial
approaches also allowed for objects from the various university
collections to be assembled, both in theoretical and actual ways
– harking back to the concept of the ‘cabinet of curiosities’. In
these exhibitions, art and science were no longer considered
as separate spheres, but placed in varying constellations and
cross-referenced.
ON THE EDGE follows in the footsteps of such exhibitions,
deliberately bringing together objects from the various
collections of the Humboldt-Universität in artistic juxtapositions.
Some of the art works are more strongly rooted in the speciality
of specific collections; others develop a perspective that draws
on distinct fields to provide an overview. The artistic approach
is always complementary to the situation in departmental
collections, where items are used in the systemic teaching or
research of a particular field – but where they may also languish
in obscurity for a while. It is of course difficult to predict what
new uses the Humboldt-Universität collections might be put
to in future. One thing is certain, however: the formats of
disciplinary viewpoint and temporary overview will continue to
alternate.
The collections of the Humboldt-Universität are only partially open
to the public; the 31 respective custodians are happy to assist
with scientific inquiries. More information can be found at: www.
sammlungen.hu-berlin.de.
The Museum für Naturkunde was, from its foundation in 1810
up to 2007, a part of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and its
predecessors respectively. The Charité was founded in 1710 and
served for many decades as the university hospital; since 2003,
it has been incorporated the medical faculty of both the Freie
Universität and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Its collections are
housed in the Berlin Museum of Medical History at the Charité or
within the respective departments.