The "Attentive Exhibition", or a museum as a place of learning
In the middle of Lübeck's old town lies the heritage-protected Willy Brandt House.
In the ground floor of 21 Königstrasse, the Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt Foundation runs a permanent exhibition about the political life of Willy Brandt, which has free admission for the general public.
The foundation was established in 1994 by the German Federal Parliament under federal law, and is a foundation under public law with legal capacity.
The exhibition aims to establish a gateway to 20th century German and European history, and to aid the public's understanding and appraisal of the course of this history in relation to the political biography of Willy Brandt.
During the formulation of the exhibition's concept, [j]karef GmbH was incorporated from a very early stage in the planning. The concept's development was shaped by both material conditions and specifications as to the exhibition's content, as well as findings from tourism studies and museum marketing, educational considerations, and years of internal experience from the permanent exihibition in the Schöneberg Town Hall in Berlin.
The greatest challenge in the planning of the Willy Brandt House in Lübeck was the express wish to take the needs and interests of different visitor groups into consideration, and to create a modern permanent exhibition which still allowed scope for change and updating. Furthermore, under tight financial and personnel circumstances, it was important that the the serviceability was assured. In practice this also meant having to recognize the limits of what was possible within the material parameters, and looking for suitable solutions.
The concept of the "attentive exhibition", which was developed with the help of [j]karef, uses the technological possibilities of modern facility management to meet the set demands.
At the core of this concept is the interconnectedness of all technical components of the exhibition, which allow an 'individual' reaction to the visitors. Alongside the audio, film and learning stations, all electrical devices in the building, including the lighting and the sound system, can be controlled centrally via software. Different visitor scenarios or learning modes can be programmed, which can be changed at any time according to specifications from the museum's pedagogical staff.
This seemingly complex interaction of technical components was made possible through tried and tested building control systems, which have already been in use for many years. Switch actuators and sensors are connected with each other via a so-called 'installation bus system'. This allows amongst other things the cost-effective installation of RFID-receivers, with which the multimedia stations can retrieve different material for different groups of visitors. Visitors to the exhibition are now able to choose from different options. Guided tours in various languages for children, adults or young people are available, which can be activated via radio by putting the admission ticket near the exhibit. The exhibition server identifies the ticket and sends the previously booked material to the multimedia station. With the museum's own content management system, the contents of the stations can be gathered together from every workplace via a webbrowser. Operating from computers in other locations is also possible. Compiled in this way, the programs can be assigned to individual RFID cards. Museum guides can create and save individual tours with multimedia material very easily, which they can then access at the appropriate station with different cards. Via an infrared transmitter, this material can be individually controlled during a tour.
From the very beginning of the planning, this range of functions was of a high importance. The aim was always to support pedagogues in their work with applicable teaching material. After a guided tour by the museum's pedagogical staff, the group can explore the exhibition individually. By means of the RFID cards, the system recognizes the members of a group and provides the appropiate material.
Alongside film and audio material, texts and images can also be linked to the related program. Every program can also control all electrical devices used in conjunction with an exhibit. Light shows or the dimming of a room can be controlled in connection with the material. Learning comprehension tests can be carried out at the end of a visit with a quiz program. The results of the quiz questions are collected and can subsequently be evaluated.
Comprehensive statisitcal functions round off the technical possibilities of the exhibition. With the available user statistics, the changing demands of visitors can be met at any time.
The exhibition has now been running for 10 months, and has already thrilled over 35,000 visitors.
It has been especially successful with groups.
This text contains extracts from the publication "Aufklärung, Bildung, 'Histotainment'?
Zeitgeschichte in Unterricht und Gesellschaft heute" by Julia Hornig.
