Five houses on Bonn’s Museum Mile take part Long Museum Night will happen digitally
Bonn · From art to artificial intelligence: five houses on Bonn's Museum Mile are inviting visitors to the first digital Museum Night on Saturday.
Temperatures up, incidence numbers down: No one could have expected this dynamic when they started preparing for this year's Museum Mile Festival, says Stephan Berg, artistic director of the Kunstmuseum Bonn. The museum bosses on the Museum Mile agreed to bundle their activities in a digital event on Saturday, June 5. The good incidence figures make it possible that on the days on which the Meilenfest was held in previous years, exhibition operations can continue - subject to certain restrictions.
For Saturday evening, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., the five houses on the Mile, Museum Alexander Koenig, Haus der Geschichte, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bundeskunsthalle and Deutsches Museum Bonn, have put together a highly attractive digital program. One can sense the experience gained from two lockdowns, in which exciting formats were developed and a certain expertise acquired. The Bundeskunsthalle and Haus der Geschichte were ahead in this field anyway.
On Saturday, visitors can surf through the offerings from their home computers. This is definitely an advantage, as Andrea Niehaus from the Deutsches Museum says: "In the past, I could hardly make up my mind, you would have had to split into five, maybe it's easier digitally."
The offerings are diverse and closely linked to the current programs. At the Bundeskunsthalle, for example, much revolves around the just-opened exhibition "Dresscode. Playing with Fashion" by artistic director Eva Kraus. Fashion theorist Diana Weis and designer Carl Tillessen will explore the exhibition together at 9 pm. Furthermore, at 7:45 p.m., between the Kunstmuseum and the Bundeskunsthalle, the Beuys Platform will be opened on Museum Square, an action space made of straw bales, designed by Alanus University as a "social sculpture." The digital family workshop "Plastic Worlds" is linked to Beuys. "Experts of Everyday Life" will debate "Alternative Life Designs" starting at 8 p.m., an anticipation of the exhibition "Beuys - Lehmbruck. Thinking is Plastic" (starting June 25). At the beginning of October, the Kunstmuseum will enter the nationwide round of events surrounding the artist, who was born 100 years ago, with Beuys-Multiples and the show "Passierschein in die Zukunft."
"Sound and Silence"
At the Kunstmuseum, the digital museum night kicks off at 6 p.m. with a conversation between Berg and Susan Philipsz about the sound installation "The Calling" in the Viktoriabad. The installation, which is well worth seeing and hearing, is part of the "Sound and Silence" exhibition. Berg will then lead a digital tour of the exhibition "Walter Swennen. The Phantom of Painting" (8 p.m.).
At 9 p.m., Volker Adolphs will give an insight into the large exhibition "Sound and Silence. The Sound of Silence in Contemporary Art," with which the Kunstmuseum joins in the birthday celebrations for Beethoven.
With a total of four films, the House of History circles the current exhibition "Hits and Hymns. Sound of Contemporary History." The films can be seen on the house's Youtube channel. Like "Sound and Silence," "Hits and Hymns" is a contribution to 250 years of Beethoven and is sponsored by the Jubilee Society.
Homage to Udo Lindenberg
Under the theme "Die Halbstarken," corresponding objects from the show are presented in the film. In "German-German Sounds," everything revolves around Udo Lindenberg, from his Stasi file to the guitar he gave to Erich Honecker. In the central room of the exhibition, Lindenberg impressively meets Bruce Springsteen. A film feature with curator Tuya Roth's favorite objects is also on the program, as is a presentation of the show's inclusive formats by exhibition director Thorsten Smidt.
At the Deutsches Museum, Director Andrea Niehaus underpins the museum's new focus on the field of artificial intelligence (AI) with a very attractive program. In a livestream from 6 to 10 p.m., "Scienceinfluencer" Jakob Beautemps from the YouTube channel "Breaking Lab," robotics manager at Telekom Kenza Ait Si Abbou Lyadini, and Science Youtuber Cedric Engels alias Doktor Whatson will address questions such as "What can AI do?", "Is AI already smarter than us?" and "And where do the dangers lurk?" among others.
Environment Day
At the Alexander Koenig Research Museum, everything revolves around Environment Day on Saturday and the international project "Caucasus Barcode of Life," which focuses on biodiversity and its conservation. Film contributions focus in particular on the work of the new Center for Biodiversity and Conservation Research. Museum director Bernhard Misof points to the museum's own YouTube channel with more than 40 films. At 6 p.m., the film "Caucasus Barcode of Life (CaBOL) - A white spot disappears from the global biodiversity map" will be shown in a premiere, followed at 6:30 p.m. by "Hello Georgia - a biodiversity hotspot."
Despite the attractive digital offensive on Saturday night, museum leaders are looking forward to normal times. The longing is great, said Hans Walter Hütter, President of the Haus der Geschichte Foundation, for example: "Next year, we will celebrate in analog. But we have to be patient." And Berg: "Next year, we'll be live and rocking."
