BERLINWAL (BERLIN WHALE)
A solo exhibition comprised of a site-specific, mixed-media installation commissioned by the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (Museum of Natural History, Berlin).
- Submitting institution
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Kingston University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 32-88-0000
- Type
- M - Exhibition
- Venue(s)
- Museum of Natural History, Berlin
- Open access status
- -
- Month of first exhibition
- January
- Year of first exhibition
- 2018
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- BERLINWAL (BERLIN WHALE) (2018) is a composite, site-specific installation commissioned by Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (Museum of Natural History, Berlin), DE, as part of its broader KUNST/NATUR programme. The work comprises four elements: a wall-painting depicting the abstracted image of a whale; a booklet with an illustrated story; custom-made furniture; and the revealed view from a gallery window into Courtyard 3 of the Museum, which used to host the Whale Hall until its destruction in1945.
Through the work, artist Elizabeth Price expands her engagement with institutional critique, while departing from her main medium – digital moving image. Specifically, Price investigates the site’s history to highlight the diversity of the kinds of knowledge whose cultural role and significance may be undervalued by scientific institutions. In the case of Museum of Natural History, Berlin, this includes: the geology and archaeology of the site; the science of geothermal energy capture; the natural history of the bowhead whale; the economic and cultural history of whaling and its products; the social and political history of the institution during the rise and fall of the Nazis, and the creation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR); the technology of the firebomb, later known as Napalm. Price developed BERLINWAL (2018) through extensive research into the Museum’s archives, as well as archival research at the Natural History Museum, London; secondary literature review; multiple site visits; technical studio-based experiments for the booklet construction; and correspondence and interviews with experts on the Museum’s history and for the installation’s technical processes. Price’s research revealed not only the fruitful role of artists in re-evaluating institutional collections, but also the need for a more profound categorical audit of museum objects and archival materials to ensure public access to knowledge.
On display at the Museum from 30 January-1 April 2018, the installation received 20,000 visitors.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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