FHXB Museum: Drawers, Soup and Beyond

      German museums tend to make extensive use of drawers or "Schubladen" in order to make museums more interactive. As an American, I find this incredibly weird though I suppose it lacks the gimmickry of some larger American museums. Regardless, I am starting with drawers as it has been my task to look to make an inventory of these drawers and photograph their contents. I also am making suggestions to all of these drawers. I spent last week and will probably spend most of this week making my Excel inventory. However, when looking through these drawers I have thought about what actually makes museums really interesting and ways to make the artifacts really shine. Thus, I am also making a list of suggestions to add to the collection.

       In addition to my inventory project, I am working on the "Iftar Project" which is a 500 person dinner that will be held on July 3rd to celebrate the beginning of Ramadan. When I first heard that I would be helping with finding appropriate soup warmers I was surprised. Nevertheless keeping 200 liters of soup is no small task especially when you have a small budget. After spending a couple days looking through all of the different types of soup containers, I finally found a solution: a three part Bain-Marie...and I found a company that rented it for an incredibly small amount. I was very proud that my research actually helped the rest of the group.

     The people who I have gotten to work with (some of whom I have photographed) are absolutely wonderful and quirky. The person who has been charged as my "task-master" Sophie is extremely sweet and helpful with everyone. She has the hard task of trying to help a lot of people coordinate projects and working with many different surly though enjoyable people. Jana who works mainly in the archive is one of the most motivated, meticulous and happiest (strange combination...I know) people I have ever met. She helps with projects throughout the museum and helps to make sure all our meetings are productive. Martin Duespohl, the curator of the museum, who came up with the plans of this museum for his Diplom-Arbeit holds the show together. Even though he is busy working in two different offices, he still has time to give great tours and truly understands all of the history of Kreuzberg. All of them have made me feel welcome and I'll elaborate on some of the other people who work here as well!

      There is so much of potential for this place and my projects have inspired other ideas (which for time's sake) I won't elaborate until the next post. However, in spite of getting what would seem like quite ordinary tasks, these tasks beg important questions about how small museums can work. Like many small businesses have to ask, museums have to deal with finding volunteers/employees, completing projects and reaching new and better audiences. Through these issues, I hope to explore FHXB Museum more clearly and help the museum become even better.

Here are photos of Sophie, Jana and Martin.