Category: Contemporary history

Boundless – Colonialism, Industry and Resistance

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Museum of Work, Hamburg

Exhibition graphic

Background

This exhibition at the Museum of Work in Hamburg tackles a current and controversial topic. Its title, “Boundless – Colonialism, Industry and Resistance” highlights the close ties between Hamburg’s industry and European colonialism and the long-term consequences of colonial structures of rule. The exhibition takes a look at the entire history of German colonial and post-colonial structures, from its beginning around 1830 until today. The processing of raw materials is illustrated by four Hamburg factories. The show demonstrates how the products exhibited here and their consumption are connected to the working and living conditions in the countries supplying the raw materials. The visitors are greeted with a film installation created in collaboration with filmmaker Sonja Collison. The footage, in reference to the exhibition, spans a cinematic arc between the past and present of colonial history and today’s debate on racism. The appearance of the alley of raw materials following the film presentation is dedicated to museum depots: high shelves filled with both historical and current everyday products made from various colonial raw materials. Here, visitors learn how a hard rubber comb and a stearin candle from a manufacture in Barmbek are connected to the exploitation of people and natural resources in Congo or Samoa. They also see the faces of resistance to these colonial structures and their consequences. Printed on long pieces of fabric hanging from the ceiling, the visitors are repeatedly confronted with silhouettes of anonymous and well-known resistance fighters, current black authors, scientists, and artists.

In addition to exhibition design and layout, gewerkdesign conceived the graphics accompanying the exhibition with illustrations by artist Diana Ejaita.

Portfolio / Range of Services
Exhibition design and planning, implementation planning, commissioning to subcontractors as a general contractor, concept development for the display, exhibition production, project management and consulting project development, exhibition graphics; graphics for key visual, flyer and poster

Details

• Opening: 29. September 2020
• Where: Museum of Work, Hamburg
• Client: Foundation Historische FMuseen Hamburg
• 650 m²

Related projects

• Out Of Office, Hamburg
• The future quality of living in Altona, FHamburg

Design process

Team

• Jens Imig
• Birgit Schlegel
• Bianca Mohr
• Franziska Schuh
• Costanza Rossi
• Amelie Neb
• Sinem Özer
• Antoine Laurent
• Gabriel Tecklenburg
• Alexandra Zackiewicz

Illustration
• Diana Ejaita

Film installation
• Sonja Collison

Exhibition production and mounting
• the workshop team of Museum of Work
• Uwe Sinkemat
• Rudi Poetsch

Photography
• gewerkdesign: Kate Riep

Our Courage. Jews in Europe 1945–48

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Jewish Museum Frankfurt

Zeilsheimer DP camp newspaper Undzer Mut, December 1946

Background

With its eleven essays, city portraits, personal portraits, and numerous illustrations, the catalogue describes the diversity of Jewish experiences in the years following the war. Taking a pan-European, transnational perspective, the book gives an account of how Jewish survivors and refugees actively took their fate into their own hands after the breakdown of civilizations. It relates their search for surviving relatives, their organising their emigration, rebuilding their social networks and their communities, as well as their demanding justice, restitution, and the documentation of the Nazi crimes.

Portfolio / Range of Services
cover and flyleaf design, typography concept, layout

Details

• published: September 2020
• publishing House: De Gruyter FOldenbourg
• editor: Jewish Museum Frankfurt
• catalogue accompanying the Fexhibition »Our Courage. Jews in FEurope 1945-48« at the Jewish FMuseum Frankfurt
• 358 pages, ca. 200 illustrations Fprinted in duplex mode
• containing essays by Kata Bohus, FWerner Hanak, Mirjam Wenzel and FAtina Grossmann

Related projects

• Flight and Metamorphosis, Nelly FSachs, writer, Berlin
• STASI, State Security in the SED-FDictatorship
• Pills and Pipettes, The chemical Fpharmaceutical industry

Design process

Team

• Birgit Schlegel

Photography
• gewerkdesign

World of Media – Radio Bremen 75 years

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Focke Museum, Bremen

Historical microphone from the early days of the broadcasting agency

Background

The year 2020 will be a celebration for the Hanseatic City of Bremen: Radio Bremen turns 75! The Focke Museum contributes to the festivities with a special exhibition: „Medienwelten – The World of Media“ shows the development of the regional public broadcasting agency Radio Bremen – its past, present, and future – and gives an analysis which can be applied to all the media development in Germany. The exhibition also contemplates what media means to us: on average, we spend seven hours a day with radio, television, and internet. The way we use these media varies widely. Statistics of current media usage can be accessed on interactive HandsOn exhibits, encouraging the visitors to reflect on their own media consumption and habits. With its 800 sqm, the participatory and inclusive exhibition is divided into three chapters. An elaborate walk-in media centre made of sound, film, light, and original documents takes the visitors on a journey through 75 years of Radio Bremen’s programs. Another chapter is the so-called “Schnittstelle” – an open intersection with numerous HandsOn exhibits inviting the visitors to dig deeper into the material. The third chapter, the Studio, offers audio and media exhibits, a green screen, an assembly of facts on a large wall, and the “Talking Heads”: four life-size monitors. On all levels, the visitors are encouraged to become media experts themselves and blend into the interactive exhibition.

Portfolio / Range of Services
Exhibition design and planning, exhibition graphics, planning concept, commissioning to subcontractors as a general contractor, design and planning of media, exhibits’, and HandsOn exhibits’ display, project and production management, graphics

Details

• Opening: 25. September 2020
• Where: Focke-Museum, Bremen
• Client: Focke Museum, Bremer FState Museum for Art and Cultural FHistory
• 800 m²

Related projects

• 100! Jahre Uni HH, Hamburg
• Open Up!, Berlin
• Out Of Office, Hamburg

Design process

Team

• Jens Imig
• Julia Junghänel
• Victor Reichert
• Sinem Özer
• Alexandra Zackiewicz

Cooperation
• Uwe Sinkemat
• Jean Fürst
• Raudies

Photography
• gewerkdesign: Alexandra Zackiewicz

Willy Brandt: Freedom Fighter, Chancellor for Peace, Bridge Builder

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Paul-Löbe-Haus, Berlin

In 1933, Brandt flew from the Nazis in a fishing boat

Background

50 years after his election into office as German chancellor, the travelling exhibition »Willy Brandt – Freedom Fighter, Chancellor for Peace, Bridge Builder« sheds a new light onto Willy Brandt as a politician and as a private person. The exhibition consists of a plethora of exhibits from Brandt’s past, interactive exhibits, films and audio recordings, and an access to his online biography, thus making the political and private life of Willy Brandt accessible to a broader audience. Apart from his biography, it is essentially his values and political goals on which the exhibition focusses, since they are still relevant today. Starting in late November 2019, the Bundeskanzler-Willy-Brandt-Stiftung sends the exhibition on a tour through Germany. Its first stops will be at Cologne, Bonn, Erfurt, Kassel, and Heidelberg.

Portfolio / Range of Services
Exhibition design and planning, planning of the statutory approvals, implementation planning, preparation/participation in the commissioning process, design, concept development for the display, project management, exhibition graphics, graphics, public relations

Details

• Opening: 22. October 2019
• Where: German Federal Parliament, FPaul-Löbe-Haus
• Client: The Federal Chancellor Willy FBrandt Foundation
• 150m²

Related projects

• 100!, Hamburg
• STASI, Berlin

Design process

Team

• Stefan Rothert
• Jens Imig
• Sebastian Franke
• Janine Iser
• Takaya Kobayashi
• Alexandra Zackiewicz
• Carsten Saalmann

Production Management
• Sebastian Franke

Exhibition production
• Bernhard Wedow, Hertzer Gmbh
• Isabel Magritz, Hertzer Gmbh

Media
• Milo Lorenz, Graphscape GmbH
• Christian Kremer, Graphscape GmbH
• Jörgen Pisarz, artavi

Printing
• Jana Arnold, Rost: Werbetechnik GmbH
• Berit Albrecht, Rost: Werbetechnik GmbH

Photos
• gewerkdesign

100! – Universität Hamburg Past and Present

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  • Foto: Karin Plessing u. Reinhard Scheiblich, Hamburg

Main hall at the Universität Hamburg

Holy scripture of the Sikh religion from the department of culture and history of India

Background

The University of Hamburg is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2019. Honouring this anniversary, a 300 square metre permanent exhibition about the scientific institution’s eventful past was put on display at the university museum’s main building. The exhibition approaches the past and present of the university in two different ways: on the one hand through a timeline with many previously unpublished photographs of everyday university life. In addition to this, numerous thematic displays present the topic from a different angle. Exhibits from the university’s different departments bear witness to the many different aspects of university life. An interactive column in front of the main hall welcomes the visitors with a sound collage assembled from 100 years of the university’s history. The exhibition itself also is interactive: the visitors can influence exhibits, people, and sounds from the university presented to them via sensors. A media guide supplements the exhibits and exhibition texts, offering a digital tour and a plethora of background material. gewerkdesign won the design competition for design and the mounting of the exhibition as well as the design of the exhibition catalogue.

Portfolio / Range of Services
Exhibition design and planning, planning of the statutory approvals, implementation planning, preparation/participation in the commissioning process, design, concept development for the display, exhibition production, exhibition graphics, graphics exhibition catalogue

Details

• Opening: 24. September 2019
• Where: University Museum FHamburg
• Client: Universität Hamburg
• 350m²

Related projects

• ZBW – “Open Up!”, Kiel
• Out Of Office, Hamburg
• Sugars and Beyond!, Berlin

Design process

Team

• Jens Imig
• Riccardo Falletta
• Bianca Mohr
• Costanza Rossi
• Birgit Schlegel
• Franziska Schuh
• Claudia Wagner
• Alexandra Zackiewicz

Media and programming
• Jörgen Pisarz, artavi

Photography
• gewerkdesign

A Memorial made of Paper: Arolsen Archives, International Center on Nazi Persecution

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Arolsen Archives documentation centre

Digital index card

Background

The Arolsen Archives – a Memorial made of Paper – store more than 30 Mio files on holocaust survivors, concentration camp inmates, forced labourers, and survivors. The Archives of the ITS, the International Tracing Service, was founded in order to compile information on the history of the victims as well as to deposit letters of their relatives who had contacted the archives. It is an organic archive, continuously growing. The special exhibition about the founding and procedures of the archives is shown in Bad Arolsen until the UNESCO-Memory of the World documents will move to a new building. gewerkdesign won the public contest for design and production of exhibition and catalogue. As part of the corona measures that were taken in 2020, visitors are now also able to experience the exhibition interactively on a 3D tour: Arolsen Archives online.

Portfolio / Range of Services : Exhibition design, exhibition scenography, exhibition graphics, media design, film production, planning concept, production supervision, services 1-9

Details

• Opening: 18. June 2019
• Ort: Arolsen Archives – FInternational Center on Nazi FPersecution, Bad Arolsen
• Client: Arolsen Archives, Bad FArolsen
• 150m²

Related projects

• Bautzen Memorial, Bautzen
• The Germans, the Forced Labourers Fand the War; Berlin, Moscow, FWarsaw and others
• The dissenter is the Enemy; FHamburg

Design process

Team

• Sebastian Franke
• Ida Flik
• Jens Imig
• Julia Junghänel
• Jori Kehn
• Bianca Mohr
• Franziska Schuh
• Birgit Schlegel
• Alexandra Zackiewicz

Production management
• Sebastian Franke

Media production
• Jörgen Pisarz, artavi

Photography
• gewerkdesign

Open Up! – How Digitalisation changes Science

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The second site of „Open Up!“ at the Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum, Berlin

Data(book) - Tower

Background

The exhibition presents the ZBW’s leading role and exemplary solutions for the »Library of the Future«, raising awareness for the changes to come. For presenting these future demands in an authentic fashion the modularly built travelling exhibition features interconnected »Towers of Information« (data stacks) as a key image – accessing a source of information enables the accessing of further sources. This key image elaborates on the existing concept image for the development of the ZBW: following the spirit of »Open Science« and evolving from a »dusty« library into a digital, interconnected, and open access science library of the 21st century. The travelling exhibition presents these developments as a three dimensional space and as architecture. It creates a physical, tangible image of the ZBW’s evolution into a »Library of the Future« by visualising the tasks that ensue these changes. It illustrates the challenges attached to these tasks and the changing process, gives project examples, and allows a vision of the future by presenting current achievements and their future potential. The exhibition’s content and architecture is centred on the ZBW and its leading role in tackling one of society’s key questions: what does the library of the future look like?

Portfolio / Range of Services: Workshop for compiling and developing the exhibition’s content, exhibition design and planning, general contractor, exhibition production, exhibition graphics, pictograph design

Details

• Opening: 11. March 2019
• Where: Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm- FZentrum, Berlin
• Client: ZBW – Leibniz Information FCentre for Economics, Kiel
• 300m²

Related projects

• Sugar and Beyond!, Berlin
• Out of Office, Hamburg

Design process

Team

• Jens Imig
• Henning Humml
• Victor Reichert
• Sebastian Franke

Production and Mounting
• Falko Riepe

Photography
• gewerkdesign

The future quality of living in Altona – Urban development in the 20th and 21st century

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Hamburg Historic Museums Foundation Altona Museum

Hands-on station: building your own city

Background

The special exhibition of the Altona Museum thoroughly examines house-building and urban development in an innovative way. Taking the Hamburg district Altona itself as a starting point, the exhibition’s appealing scenography, its striking graphics, and vivid colours (as a reference to the art of Piet Mondrian) guide the visitors through more than 100 years of house-building in Altona. The topics described in the exhibition range from the housing shortage of the 1890s, the National Socialist housing policy, the idea of car-friendly cities from the 1950s and 60s, the urban development spurred by the citizens of the 1970s, and current developments. A signage system in the shape of a black and white „roadmap“ along the walls and floors guides the visitors through the different chronological chapters. Thematic displays through the tour complement the chronological narrative and accentuate the design. Their vivid, monochrome scenography resembles the rooms of an apartment and creates a strong visual focus. These room-in-a-room installations invite the visitors to come inside, reflect, and take action. These thematic displays correspond to the topics emphasized by the tour. Tenancy laws, for example, are discussed in the “bedroom”, the topic of mobility in the “garage”. Exhibits like doll houses from different periods and architectural models are supplemented by portrait features of the architects or interviews with the tenants. Interactive stations and hands-on exhibits invite the visitors to get involved and start designing themselves. After all, the exhibition pursues the difficult question of how to create new living spaces for a growing city without diminishing the quality of living or the community interaction.

Portfolio / Range of Services: exhibition design and planning, implementation planning, general contractor, concept development for the display, exhibition production, project management and consulting project development, concept and production of the hands-on exhibits, exhibition graphics, signage system through the exhibition

Details

• Opening: 28. September 2018
• Where: Altona Museum, Hamburg
• Client: Hamburg Historic Museums
FFoundation, Altona Museum
• 1.235 m²

Related projects

• Riots + New Beginnings,
FBremen
• Civil Museum,
FWolfenbüttel

Design Process

Team

• Jens Imig
• Bianca Mohr
• Janine Iser
• Franziska Müller
• Ida Flik
• Takaya Kobayashi

Production and Mounting
• Team Uwe Sinkemat
• Team Falko Riepe

Photography
• Pablo Hassmann

Bautzen Memorial

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Entrance to the former prison, Bautzen Memorial

Photograph of a prison cell

Background

On September 19th, the third and last part of Bautzen Memorial’s permanent exhibition »Haft unterm Hakenkreuz Bautzen I und Bautzen II 1933-1945« about the National Socialist penal system was inaugurated. gewerkdesign has been involved in the different stages of Bautzen Memorial’s remodelling since 1997, having created the design for the exhibition parts about Bautzen as a Stasi prison and as a special detention camp during the Soviet occupation. The parts are chronologically arranged on the three stories of the building. While the architecture of the building was mostly left in its original state, a few of the rooms were rearranged: Their contemplative exhibition design provides an opportunity for the visitors to concentrate on the exhibitions and on the information given. Creative highlight: the rooms are furnished with a free transformable, modular system of wooden shelves – elegantly honouring the complex history of the memorial site. The shelf compartments’ proportions are similar to the former prison cells, thus referring to the site itself and its architecture. In order to physically and semantically guide the visitors through the multi-layered area, gewerkdesign created a signage system and, together with Lotsenhaus Media, a media guide.

Portfolio / Range of Services: Exhibition design and planning, implementation planning, concept development for the display, exhibition production, project management and consulting project development, exhibition and media graphics, media guide, facsimile production

Please note that the copyrights for the project-photo being used on our landing page are with: © Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen GmbH

Details

• Opening of the last part:
F19. September 2018
• Where: Bautzen Memorial
• Client: Stiftung Sächsische
FGedenkstätten
• total area: 400 m²

Related projects

• STASI., BStU, Berlin
• The Dissenter is the Enemy,
FHamburg etc.

Design Process

Team

• Costanza Rossi
• Jens H. Lohmann
• Jens Imig
• Birgit Schlegel

Media guide
• Lotsenhaus

Photography
• Francisco Pablo Hassmann

Riots + New Beginnings. Bremen after 1968

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Focke-Museum, Bremen

Large speaker for street protests.

Background

The new special exhibition »Riots + New Beginnings. Bremen after 1968« presents Bremen’s tumultuous history between 1968 and 1983. These years – encompassing for example the Tramway Riots and the closing of the AG Weser shipyards – saw the younger generation’s hopes and sense of impending change collide with the decline of the industrialised society. It was a time of major changes, protests and riots, but also of new beginnings, which effectively changed the city’s atmosphere. By their vivid, spontaneous design, gewerkdesign ties in with this »revolutionary spirit«: The stage gewerkdesign provides for the Focke-Museum’s diverse exhibits is rich and intense, resembling an installation rather than a typical exhibition. The Bremen Theatre played an important role in initiating the riots and therefore now inspired the exhibition’s design. Stage platforms, brochures, backdrops and moving images relate to the aesthetics of a theatre set. Multimedia elements reflect the participatory idea of the riots.

Portfolio / Range of Services: Exhibition desing and planning, implementation planning, preparation/participation in the commissioning process, design, exhibition production, project management, project development, exhibition graphics

Details

• Opening: August 2017
• Ort: Focke-Museum, Bremen
• Client: Foundation of the
FFocke-Museum for Cultural
FHistory and the History of
FArts of the City and State of
FBremen
• 450 m²

Related projects

• Oh yeah!, Bremen

Design process

Team

• Costanza Rossi
• Julia Junghänel
• Julia Walk
• Marielena Jori Kehn
• Jens Imig
• Birgit Schlegel