Various kinds of work have to be invested in objects before they become worthy of collection, before they can be researched, preserved, and exhibited. Work on the dinosaur skeleton of Brachiosaurus brancai in Berlin’s Museum für Naturkunde, for example, extended far beyond the decades of the fossil’s preparation in the Museum. Figurations of work across time and space form the focus of the conference: Which materials and what kinds of immaterial labour were necessary to acquire or produce a given object, in order to transport it, examine it, exhibit it, or valuate it? What existing knowledge, and which social, political, and legal conditions characterized this work? What types of materials, tools, or techniques were used?
Working on Things. On the Social, Political, and Economic History of Collected Objects
21.11.2016 – 22.11.2016 | Berlin | Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum
Working on Things from Bild Wissen Gestaltung on Vimeo.