Picture: Terhi Tuomi
The new permanent exhibition of the German Museum of Books and Writing (Deutsches Buch- und Schriftmuseum) aims to tell a short media history of mankind. The key chronological framework to the cultural-historical exhibition is provided by three media innovations: writing, book printing with movable letters, and digital net worlds. By extending the time spectrum from early history to the present day, the exhibition should rouse interest in the history of media and so stimulate people to think about the future of media in our society.
In an area of almost 900 square metres, large-format wall and display case elements form a structure that is reminiscent of three-dimensional calligraphic symbols. The exhibition scenography evolves via the spatial relations between the surrounding architecture of the building, the large-scale, curving and dynamic fittings, and islands of free-standing exhibits. The transparency and openness of the spatial composition, the unhindered vistas, and the use of filtered daylight reject the customary image of dark cabinets associated with many museums of cultural or book history. However, care is still taken to protect the exhibits from light whenever necessary. The ingenious display-case walls can hold all types of exhibits, adapting to individual objects with special fixtures or trays and grouping the various thematic fields within an easily comprehensible spatial presentation. The layout of the exhibition is being conceived in cooperation with the architects of the fourth extension to the German National Library Leipzig, the working group Gabriele Glöckler / ZSP Architekten, Stuttgart.