Archive

VEB Museum. The Deutsches Hygiene-Museum in the GDR

For the first time, a special exhibition looked at the museum’s history in former GDR: From the early post-war years to the museum’s restructuring in the 1990s. The focal point of the exhibition was the multi-layered profile of the museum, which was characteristic of its East German phase. As a state-run ‘Institute for Health Education’, it served not just as a well-attended exhibition venue, but also as a production facility for anatomical models and other medical teaching resources and educational materials. And last but not least, it was also a ‘clubhouse’ where cultural events were held for – and with – its employees.

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Let's Talk About Mountains - Cinematic Views of North Korea

In cooperation with the Swiss Alpine Museum, Bern

What comes to mind when you hear ‘North Korea’? Beyond stereotypical media images, the exhibition provided filmic insights into everyday life in North Korea and its living environments. The exhibition in Dresden was supplemented by a chapter on Saxon mountaineers who reported on their impressions and personal experiences in North Korea, the former socialist brother state, where they were invited to explore challenging climbing routes at the end of the 1980s.

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Hello Happiness!

In cooperation with Wellcome Collection, London

In six sections, Hello Happiness! presented different practices in which positive emotions arise and have an effect on people's self-perception. The numerous current artistic positions and interactive stations, many of which were specially developed for this exhibition, were central to the exhibition. The exhibition also presented numerous cultural-historical and scientific exhibits, which were used to explore the respective section themes in greater depth.

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Of Genes and Human Beings. Who Are We, and Who Might We Become?

What do our genes reveal about us? How much of us is in our DNA? What happens when we change our genetic material? The exhibition Of Genes and Human Beings questioned current findings in genetic research from the perspective of the social and cultural sciences.

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FAKE. The whole truth

In the "Office for the Whole Truth," the relationship between lies and truth was examined in a variety of ways. In the process, the exhibition, developed in cooperation with the renowned Swiss Stapferhaus, also made the increasing spread of conspiracy myths and misinformation during the Corona pandemic and the Ukraine war a topic.

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Artificial Intelligence. Machine - Learning - Human Dreams

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Some were neighbors. Collaboration & Complicity in the Holocaust

A travelling exhibtion by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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In Prison. Detained and Deprived of Liberty

An exhibtion by the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum Dresden, the Musée des Confluences, Lyon, and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, Geneva

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Future Food. What will we eat tomorrow?

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Boom. 500 years of industrial heritage in Saxony - The 4th Saxon State Exhibition

Curator: Thomas Spring

Central exhibition venue: Audi Bau, Zwickau

 

The exhibition focussed on the region of south-west Saxony as one of the cradles of European industrialisation. It turned the history of industrialisation in Saxony into an exciting experience and highlight its future development.

Alongside the central exhibition in the Audi Bau in Zwickau a further six other authentic venues in the region provided fascinating insights into key branches in Saxon technology and industry history.

The Saxon State Ministry for Science and Art entrusted the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum Dresden with the organisation of the state exhibition in Zwickau.

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Of Plants and People. A Stroll around our green Planet

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Shine on Me. The Sun and Us

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Racism. The Invention of Human Races

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Pets friends forever. Pets and their People

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The Face. A Search for Clues

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Lutherland. Photographs from the world of faith

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Shame. 100 Reasons for Turning Red

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Language. The World of Words, Signs and Gestures

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A Fleeting Sense of Happiness. Photographs by Phillip Toledano

An exhibition by Haus der Photographie / Deichtorhallen Hamburg hosted by Deutsches Hygiene-Museum

The  photographs  of  Phillip  Toledano  explore  aspects  of  our  human existence to which most of us tend to give a wide berth, suppress, or banish from our thoughts altogether: age, the act of bidding farewell, mortality, traumatic memories, and agonising anxieties about the future or, indeed, the change in our notions of ourselves as human beings prompted by the possibilities afforded by continual developments in medical technology.

The exhibition showcased six series of photographs featuring a total of some 160 photographs taken between  2001 and 2014, and Joshua Seftel’s  documentary  entitled The  Many  sad  Fates  of  Mr.  Toledano (2015).

FAST FASHION. THE DARK SIDES OF FASHION

An exhibition by the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg

At the very latest since the collapse of a textile factory in Bangladesh in April 2013, killing 1,127 people, it is no longer possible for us to turn a blind eye on the implications and repercussions of such manufacturing methods. And that is precisely the backdrop against which the exhibition created by Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg has chosen to take a closer look at the big business of the fashion industry – from an economic, ethical and ecological perspective. Away from the trendy fashion chains and the glitzy catwalks of haute couture, it looks behind the scenes of the clothing industry. What role does the industry play in the countries  that  produce  the  clothing,  and  what  might  its significance be in the future?

AIDS. Based on a True Story

An exhibition by the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum

The special exhibition illustrated the way in which, with this glut of images, the public perception of AIDS has changed over the past three decades. It also explains what we know about the disease itself and offers information on ways of protecting ourselves against HIV infection. At the core of the artistic media-based staging of the exhibition are 240 international posters from the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum’s unique collection. Now, for the first time ever, these posters from all over the world have been combined with works of art, documents, films, and pop culture media to create a dense network. It is a constellation that helps us to understand how our relationship with fundamental issues relating to morality and sexuality, disease and death has evolved.

From 4 April 2017 to 7 January 2018 the exhibition was shown in the Musée international de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge in Geneva/Switzerland.

The Ties of Friendship

An exhibition by the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum

Beyond any certainties we might be tempted to settle on all too hurriedly, the exhibition explored what
constitutes various concepts of friendship and what they mean – for the individual, but also for society as a whole. Is a friend someone who supports us unreservedly – or someone who questions us, and what we  do? Are friends useful? Or is there simply no place in a friendship for utilitarian considerations? Is friendship as intimate and as intense as love – but minus the sex? Or is friendship purely and simply something we cannot grasp, something that’s new each and every time – in every era and in every culture, among different milieus and social strata, and of course for men and women?

ROLL UP, ROLL UP ! AN ANATOMICAL WAXWORK CABINET MEETS ART

An exhibition by the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum

The starting point – and focal point – of the current special exhibition was a historical anatomical waxwork cabinet which was originally created, for the most part, in Dresden around 1900. To illustrate not just the historical aspect, but also the topicality of the issues associated with the collection, the waxworks were contrasted with works by leading artists of the more recent past which also focus on the human body.

The relationships between observer and exhibit that inform and guide our knowledge and cognition were showcased at different levels in the works of, among many others, Louise Bourgeois, Alexandra Bircken, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Robert Gober, Damien Hirst, Mike Kelley, Zoë Leonard, Paul McCarthy, Steve McQueen, Bruce Nauman, Pipilotti Rist, Pia Stadtbäumer, Paul Thek, and Luc Tuymans.

TRAILER (in German)

MIGRATION AND DIVERSITY IN GERMANY TODAY

An exhibition by the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum

Against the backdrop of nowadays diverse responses to the topic of migration this exhibition project intended to explore “Das neue Deutschland” (The new Germany) as it stands today and examine the direction in which it is evolving in its social and cultural diversity. The exhibition used the city as its main metaphor, a place where settled and migrant populations encounter one another. Visitors made their way through an imaginary urban landscape made up of all manner of used shipping crates. Life in the globalised world means mobility and also the exchange of information, goods and people.

dance! - moves that move us

An exhibition by the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum

People have always danced – all over the world and at all times. We dance in endless variations, on all sorts of occasions, and across cultures. The exhibition has tapped into the wealth of knowledge accumulated by many disciplines in order to convey the experience of the dynamic and dramatic tensions of dance. Visitors were invited to take this dance course, both literally and figuratively, and gain a deeper understanding of dance as a part of human nature, and of what moves us to dance.

TRAILER (in German)

WEALTH - more than enough

An exhibition by the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum

The special exhibition featured a deadly serious satire on wealth as a fact and phantasm of our imaginations. Wealth is the subject of envy, hopes and serious conflicts. It is a driver of personal ambition and social commitment - and the expression of glaring injustices. During their short stay on board the MS Wealth visitors had the opportunity to find out which aspects of wealth are connected and what problems need to be resolved if social cohesion is to be maintained.

Do or Die - The Human Condition in Painting and Photography

An exhibition by the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum

What do historic paintings and contemporary photographs tell us about the times in which they were produced? How is the social reality of life portrayed in these very different pictorial media? Why do we still see fundamental experiences of human life in these artworks today? The temporary exhibition “Do or Die: The Human Condition in Painting and Photography” set masterpieces of European painting from 1400 to 1900 in a fascinating and suspenseful dialogue with outstanding international photography of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Herlinde Koelbl - Clothes makes the man

An exhibition by the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum

In her new project, the photographer Herlinde Koelbl made portraits of seventy people in Germany and abroad. Each person appears twice: once in their professional or occupational costume, and once in their preferred leisure clothes. The juxtaposition sounds simple, but the exhibition reveals a surprising variety of results. Do both portraits show us the same person? What clothes present the wearer in a social role, and what clothes express an individual personality?

The Passions - A drama in five acts

An exhibition by the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum

 

The special exhibition explored the most vehement feelings of all. It was dedicated to the passions that seem to overwhelm us, to endanger our integrity, our subjectivity and self-control. At its core are the passions of love, hatred, joy and sadness, of rage and fear, shame, disgust and desire. It was a show about the most unpredictable and uncontrollable, the most sublime and yet banal, the most dangerous, vital and exhilarating emotions known to us as human beings.

On your marks - The Sport Exhibiotion

An exhibition by the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum

The special exhibition “On Your Marks” dealed with trends in the world of sport, and also threw a whole new light on the cultural history of movement. The exhibition, with numerous interactive elements, appealed to spectators, athletes, and fans, as well as sport sceptics and those visitors who see sport primarily as a stage for the dominant images of the body and the changing structures in modern society.

 

Images of the Mind - In Art and Science

An exhibition by the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum

“Images of the Mind” looked at the human mind as a visual phenomenon - from Antiquity to the present day. The exhibition seized on the topical discussion about the validity and significance of scientific visualisations to consider, against a broader backdrop, the role that images play in the understanding of cognitive abilities. Indeed, the age-old interest of artists and philosophers in the human mind has also yielded a wealth of image traditions. In a unique compilation of outstanding works of art and significant images from the world of science, ‘Images of the Mind’ showcased the mind as both a cultural and a biological phenomenon.

Religious Energy - About Man and God

An exhibition by the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum

The special exhibition “Religious Energy” came at a time when the public perception of religion and faith has undergone a great change. The role of faith in modern society and the relationship between religion and democracy are issues that confront individual believers, the various faith communities, and society as a whole. The exhibition examined the phenomenon of religion from three perspectives: society, communities and ultimate questions. The exhibition showed that religious notions never really went away from many people’s minds and day-to-day lives, and may take on new importance once more in the 21st century.

What is beautiful?

An exhibition by the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum

The exhibition "What is beautiful?" presented a critical survey of the contemporary discourse on beauty and showed which topics are influencing the debate about beauty today. The diagnosis, beauty had dissolved into a colourful and contradictory diversity of collective concepts and individual expectations and practices, stood in contrast to the widely held view that the power of the mass media dictates a binding ideal of beauty. The exhibition, indeed, came to quite a different conclusion: most people today experience beauty in their own lives as difference and plurality.

Work - Meaning and Care

An exhibition by the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum

In contrast to most of the usual discussions, the exhibition shifted the focus of attention onto the perspective of the individual worry about earning a living, the desire for self-fulfilment and social recognition and, not least, the function of work as an activity that bestows meaning. In doing so, the exhibition revealed that usefulness cannot be the ultimate argument when it comes to understanding the significance of work, that payment is not the sole criterion for exerting oneself and that education and training programs oriented solely towards the current needs of the labour market are seldom beneficial.

War and Medicine

An exhibition by the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum and the Wellcome Collection, London

War and medicine: it’s hard to imagine more contradictory disciplines. The ethical conflict of wartime medicine has yet to be fully explored. Personal points of view were the heart of the exhibition “War and Medicine”, a joint project of Wellcome Collection, London, and the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum Dresden. The historical dimension ranged from the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq back to the humanitarian catastrophe of the Crimean War. The exhibition enabled visitors to undertake an informed, emotional exploration of the motives and the stories of individuals involved.