Workshop ›Original and Copy‹
A Video Documentation
Numerous representatives of »Kulturelle Gedächtnisorte - KGO« (Cultural Memory Sites) and the »Konferenz Nationaler Kultureinrichtungen - KNK« (Conference of National Cultural Institutions) met to discuss »Original und Kopie. Probleme und Potentiale der Reproduzierbarkeit für die Kulturgutvermittlung« (Original and Copy. Problems and Potentials of Reproducibility in the Imparting of Cultural Property) in Potsdam on November 8 and 9, 2021. They reflected on the problems and potentials arising from the use of analog and digital copies of originals in museums and archives in a joint workshop. The event was organized by the Theodor Fontane Archive | University of Potsdam in cooperation with the Ernst Barlach Foundation Güstrow. The workshop was funded by the »Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien - BKM« (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media).
Image: TFAThe changing conditions for visitors and researchers in the ›direct‹ encounter with original works of art, artifacts, and documents in culture-preserving and culture-mediating institutions such as museums and archives were discussed. Even though the original and the special aura attributed to it have lost none of their appeal to the public in an age of ever more technically perfected reproducibility, copies have always been shown or put to use in museums and archives - for example, because the state of preservation of the original requires it, because the original is temporarily on loan, or because it no longer exists at all.
Due to the digital revolution, the question of the status of the copy in exhibition and mediation work has recently gained additional virulence. Beyond the aforementioned cases, digital copies are used, for example, to enable a different - more in-depth, more ›direct‹ - encounter with the original object in virtual environments. In the meantime, the digital exhibition has emerged as a supplement or alternative to the real one, gaining even more relevance during the museum closures in the course of the Corona pandemic.
Subsidized by:
Video Documentation
The various presentations recorded during the workshop are available here, with the permission of the presenters. The video documentation helps to substainably preserve the results of the workshop.
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On the evening of the 8th of November 2021, the art historian Prof. Dr. Annette Tietenberg (Braunschweig University of Art HBK) opened the event with a public lecture. She spoke about the »The exhibition copy as an anachronistic model of history - as demonstrated by the example of the Cabinet of the Abstract in Hanover«. The lecture was introduced by Prof. Dr. Peer Trilcke (Theodor Fontane Archive | University of Potsdam).
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After a greeting by the spokespersons of the KGO and the KNK, Dr. Sylke Kaufmann (Lessing Museum Kamenz) and Prof. Dr. Christoph Martin Vogtherr (Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg SPSG), a total of seven presentations by representatives of various institutions on the 9th of November were devoted to the question of original and copy from the perspective of their respective institutions. An introduction to the topic of the workshop was given by Prof. Dr. Peer Trilcke (Theodor Fontane Archive | University of Potsdam) with a »Praise for the Copy«.
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Kerstin Wiese (Bach Museum Leipzig) then spoke about "Reproduction as an Opportunity in the Musician’s Museum".
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Dr. Roland Krischke (Lindenau Museum Altenburg) spoke about »The Return of the White Ghosts - The Lindenau Museum Altenburg and its Original Copies«.
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Anke Dornbach (Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle an der Saale) represented her colleague Thomas Bauer-Friedrich, who was ill, and gave his lecture on »Digital Copies in Exhibition Contexts«.
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Dr. Magdalena Schulz-Ohm (Ernst Barlach Foundation Güstrow) spoke about »Posthumous Castings - a Challenge in Everyday Museum Life«.
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Dr. Stefan Körner (Prince-Pückler-Museum Park and Palace Branitz Foundation SFPM) spoke about »Pückler & Branitz. Appearance & Being«.
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Finally, Dr. Samuel Wittwer (Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg SPSG) spoke about »The Copy in the Palace - Fraud or Opportunity?«
With regard to the spontaneously inserted example at the beginning of the lecture (1:13 to 2:55), the speaker would like to add that the protest of the restorers was not directed against the touching with gloves per se, but against the fact that the request had already been approved elsewhere by the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg and that that the restorers would have liked to give the borrower instructions before the tour, for example, where restored areas are and one must be accordingly careful when touching.
