Connecting is not a question of age.
© Kulturprojekte Berlin and Stadtmuseum Berlin | Photo: Alexander Rentsch

The rolling cartographer

In the WELTSTUDIO, the space for participation at BERLIN GLOBAL, there is the rolling cartographer. Guests can design individual maps here. In the series “Favourite Object” we introduce the cartographer.

by Stefanie Friedlhuber, Kulturprojekte Berlin
Constanze Schröder
“It almost reaches to the ceiling. This thing that looks like an extremely ambitious marble run turns out to be a map archive.”

Constanze Schröder, head of the Outreach and Facilitation team at the Stadtmuseum Berlin and curator of the WELTSTUDIO, tells us why the rolling cartographer is her favourite object at BERLIN GLOBAL.

Constanze Schröder
© Kulturprojekte Berlin and Stadtmuseum Berlin | Photo: Oana Popa-Costea

What is your favourite object at BERLIN GLOBAL?

The BERLIN GLOBAL exhibition also includes the WELTSTUDIO, where three large-scale cartographers invite visitors to participate. They allow visitors to experience various methods of making maps in a new and creative way, and to critically question those methods. The rolling cartographer, which visitors use to create individual maps for other guests, is my favourite station.

Who are you? What brought you to BERLIN GLOBAL?

I’m Constanze Schröder, head of the Outreach and Facilitation team at Stadtmuseum Berlin. I’m also the curator of the WELTSTUDIO. In addition, I’m a member of the Humboldt Forum’s Cultural Education Programme Commission. That’s the team responsible for BERLIN GLOBAL’s bookable offers, educational programmes and participation projects.

Why did you choose the rolling cartographer specifically as your favourite object?

At this station, all the guests leave self-sketched directions to a personal favourite place – perhaps to the fountain of fairy tales in Volkspark Friedrichshain or to Naples’ best ice-cream parlour – folded up and enclosed in small wooden balls. If you send one of these messages with the rolling cartographer, it releases another ball up near the ceiling that rolls to you down a track, and then you get to look at a previous guest’s sketch from the archive.

I like the idea that visitors take home a very personal and individually designed souvenir, and maybe one day they’ll even visit the place that’s been recommended to them.

More objects

  •

    Meeting in a coffee cup: Menorah. Crescent. Cross.

    In the room “Free Space” at BERLIN GLOBAL there is an area dedicated to the theme of faith. There is a cross-religious sculpture – originally intended as an alternative to the cross on the dome of the Humboldt Forum. In the series “Favourite Object” we present the sculpture.

    Article, 3 min Lesezeit

  • The boombox from The City Rockers

    In the room “Entertainment” at BERLIN GLOBAL is a boombox by former TCR member José Alvarez. The City Rockers (TCR) were known as a break-dance group in Berlin in the 1980s. In the series “Favourite Object” we present the ghetto blaster.

    Article, min Lesezeit

  • Sharmin’s Note

    A photo of “Sharmin’s Note” hangs in the room “War” at BERLIN GLOBAL. The object is part of an interview project on the topic of flight. We present it in the series “Favourite Object”.

    Article, min Lesezeit

  • Funeral of Affordable Rents

    In the room “Free Space” at BERLIN GLOBAL stands the “Funeral of Affordable Rents” by the artist collective Rocco and his brothers. In 2016, the artists installed the work on a street corner in Kreuzberg to draw attention to the exploding rents. In the series “Favourite Object” we present the object restored for the exhibition.

    Article, min Lesezeit

  • The Rebirth of Osiris

    The mural “The Rebirth of Osiris” by the Egyptian artist Hanaa El Degham can be seen in the room “Revolution”. We present it in the series “Favourite Object”.

    Article, min Lesezeit

  • The door of the techno-club “Tresor”

    Between the rooms “Free Space” and “Boundaries” at BERLIN GLOBAL stands a very special door: the steel door of the legendary club “Tresor” at Leipziger Straße 126a. In the series “Favourite Object” we present it.

    Article, min Lesezeit