How can the Bundeskunsthalle become a welcoming place for everyone?
Since its founding, the Bundeskunsthalle's desire and goal has been more than just art and culture
to convey, but also to be an active meeting place. Now the question arises: How can we remain an openly accessible place in the future that is relevant for many people, regardless of their origin or education, for a diverse, diverse society?
We have decided to set up a social forum. Our aim is to involve citizens in the further development of the Federal Art Gallery in order to learn from their suggestions and recommendations - when thinking about infrastructure, a culture of welcome, inclusion, participation or generally about future thematic orientation. We attach great importance to the “outside” perspective and are very pleased that we were able to develop this special integration of new visitors.
This participation process was suggested by curators and experts as part of the concept of the upcoming exhibition (from May 30, 2024) on the topic of democracy in the Bundeskunsthalle. 31 Bonn residents took part. They represent our urban society on a small scale. Representing all neighbors, they negotiated with us about the democratization of cultural institutions like ours. An intensive exchange took place over two weekends in November 2023.
Such a procedure is new for cultural institutions and we are the first to carry out this deliberative process.
Our social forum was created together with that of the Decorative Arts Museum of the Dresden State Art Collections. Together we exchange our experiences, just as we develop the democracy exhibition together. It is also about designing structures of participation. In fact, a more direct form of democratic participation is already being tested in various places, such as in citizens' parliaments, in a nutrition council in our Bundestag and in numerous cities, citizens are allowed to vote directly on various issues. So we wanted to develop ideas together in the Bundeskunsthalle.
Such a procedure is new for cultural institutions and we are the first to carry out this deliberative process. The Bundeskunsthalle's Social Forum was convened to help democratize and open up the building. It is a great pleasure to work together on the goals of opening up. A wonderful suggestion came about to perpetuate the social forum, which we particularly like. We are proud to be able to further develop this process and would like to thank everyone who took part - and will hopefully continue to take part in the future!
The participants in the social forum discussed the following questions:
• How can the Bundeskunsthalle be strengthened to become a welcoming, open place for social exchange
• How can the Federal Art Gallery manage to interest people with little cultural education in visiting the Federal Art Gallery?
• What specific measures are needed so that Bonn's citizens perceive and use the Bundeskunsthalle as a creative place for participation and self-discovery?
• What creative freedom can or should Bonn residents have in the Bundeskunsthalle in the future?
• What topics and priorities should the Bundeskunsthalle set in order to convey democratic and participatory values?
Report from the Bundeskunsthalle Social Forum
You can download the recommendations of the citizens of the Social Forum HERE [in German]