NACHRICHTEN–NEWS

Background

The travelling exhibition »NACHRICHTEN–NEWS« at the Museum for Communication Berlin, designed by gewerkdesign and realised in cooperation of the museum with the Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, takes place on the occasion of the Year of News 2024, in which the 75th anniversary of the dpa and the German Constitution with its Article 5 on freedom of the press are celebrated. In times of fake news and »alternative facts«, it was important to us to familiarise ourselves with scientific and curatorial perspectives on the topic of news, as well as a real inspiration to deal with this topic creatively and bring it into the space.

From news overload to a clear understanding

The spatial set-up of the exhibition is an increasing sorting of the cacophonic news overload that we are confronted with today, resulting in a clear overview and positioning within the diverse media landscape. The prologue is tightly packed with iconic news images in light boxes and on screens, the word “news” is visible in oversized letters in many languages of the world next to, above and below the image clusters, a news ticker runs newsflashes. In the course of the exhibition, visitors attain an ever clearer understanding, which is also furthered by the many hands-on stations. Finally, in the epilogue, a concrete result about what medium ideally suits one’s individual preferences is produced in the Media Match.

A dialogic exhibition concept with high relevance

»NACHRICHTEN–NEWS« has a modular, sustainable and inclusive design and reflects the controversial relationship between the news and its users. The exhibition is dialogical throughout: Visitors are being asked their opinions station by station – in the exhibition space and beyond it, in the social media of the museum. The interactive exhibition is intended to make visitors explore and become conscious of what habits and needs motivate us to choose specific news channels. As one learns in the exhibition, it is today easier than ever to access news from all over the world, however, the general interest in them is paradoxically as low as never before. That is why the superordinate societal, political and media-related contexts in which we live and act are taken into account.