Dialoghaus Hamburg

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The Dialoghaus Hamburg is an exhibition space in the Hamburg warehouse district . It was founded on April 1, 2000 and offers three experience-oriented exhibitions: Dialogue in the Dark , Dialogue in Silence and Dialogue with Time . Depending on the exhibition, the guests are guided through different worlds of experience by blind, deaf or elderly people. In different experience rooms and the dialogue with the guides , visitors experience a role reversal and can feel for the duration of the tours what life feels like with visual impairment , deafness or as a senior.

history

During his work as a journalist for Südwestfunk , Andreas Heinecke was supposed to develop back-to-work training for a blind colleague. Up until this point in time, the subjects of “disability” and “being blind” were something foreign to him. Working together with the blind colleague, the idea for a new concept arose in 1988. With Dialog in the Dark , the first dialogue exhibition was opened in Frankfurt in 1989 . After further successful exhibition experiments in Europe , the first permanent exhibition Dialogue in the Dark was opened in Hamburg in 2000 . The dialogue exhibitions have been offered since 2000, but the actual company foundation did not take place until 2004. The Consens Exhibition GmbH was initially founded with charitable goals . In August 2018, the non-profit status was anchored in the legal form and the company was renamed Dialoghaus Hamburg gGmbH.

Due to the success of Dialog in the Dark , the exhibition concept was further developed, so that in 2003, Scenes of Silence, a dialogical exhibition on the subject of deafness, took place in the Paris Cité des sciences et de l'industrie for the first time. In the meantime, Scenes of Silence is offered under the name Dialog im Stillen in the Dialoghaus Hamburg .

Exhibition concept

The Dialoghaus Hamburg can be understood as a “ social lab ” in the sense of the exhibition designer Orna Cohen (2003) . Cohen, who conceived and continually developed all dialogue exhibitions, presented with "The Social Lab: A New Approach for Science Centers" a new concept for 2003 for addressing global social and socio-political issues in exhibitions. The focus is not on finding answers and explanations for social problems . Rather, it should give impulses to keep asking new questions about social challenges. The basic idea of ​​the Science Center physical phenomena such as For example, to make mechanics , optics and acoustics in experience-based exhibitions visible and recognizable for visitors, Orna Cohen combines in her dialogue exhibitions with social issues. The topics of blindness, deafness and the biological aging of a human body not only affect these biological and physical phenomena , but also automatically lead to social discourse.

The methodical approach underlying the exhibition concepts is based on the one hand on the process of transformative learning according to Jack Mezirow , on the other hand Andreas Heinecke and Orna Cohen refer to Albert Einstein's understanding of education. As a leading argument for experience-based learning in dialogue exhibitions, Cohen and Heinecke highlight quotes from Einstein and explain how these insights can be transferred to the museum world.

Permanent exhibitions and event formats in Hamburg

So far there are two cities across Germany in which dialogue exhibitions are offered as permanent exhibitions. In addition to Dialoghaus Hamburg gGmBH , visitors can also take part in dialogue exhibitions in the Frankfurt Dialog Museum . The current exhibitions of the Dialoghaus include Dialogue in the Dark, Dialogue in Silence and Dialogue with Time.

Dialogue in the dark

Dialogue in the Dark is an exhibition in complete darkness and presents itself as a “path through the darkness”. Surrounded by the total lack of light, the visitors are guided through a course of different scenarios (e.g. a forest, a market, a port, a bar, etc.). During this journey into the dark, visitors are forced to take a break from the visual world. This opens up completely new ways of self-awareness in social environments as well as in the physical environment . Since the visitors can no longer rely on the visual stimuli , roles are reversed and the blind companion becomes a perception expert. The experience of this role reversal is a new experience for the visitors and also for the guides, because the living environment in which people organize, act and are is mainly shaped by the sense of sight. Blind people, for whom orientation is made difficult by the social primacy of the visual sense in the environment, are no longer “in need of help” and “visually impaired”, but the visitors experience a “perceptual impairment” and unfamiliar needs for help.

Dinner in the Dark

The dinner takes place in completely darkened rooms and the guests are invited to a culinary experience. The focus here is not on event catering, but on the idea that the guests are irritated by the deprivation of light, perceive their senses anew and thereby question their own construction of the physical and social environment in which they live. The first Dinner in the Dark took place in 1993 at the Avignon Festival (Festival d'Avignon) as part of the Dark / Noir series of events. Inspired by the Frankfurt Dialogue in the Dark , the artist Michel Reilhac invited other artists with the desire to change the mind and perspective of the “viewer”. Since then, dark restaurants have been popular around the world. The concept for Dinner in the Dark is not a protected trademark of Dialogue Social Enterprise GmbH and can be found under different names at different venues.

Dialogue in silence

The exhibition Dialog im Stillen (originally Scenes of Silence ) aims to give hearing people access to the world of deaf people. Visitors enter the world of deafness and are confronted with everyday situations that deaf people encounter every day. In order to create an environment of silence, visitors wear sound-absorbing headphones, and the spoken word is dispensed with for the duration of the dialogue exhibition. The dialogue in silence takes place in several circularly designed and soundproof rooms, in which different aspects of non-verbal communication are brought into focus: showing , facial expression , body language and gestures . This encourages visitors to communicate non-verbally. As experts in non-verbal communication, deaf guides take on the role of mediator in this dialogue situation.

Dialogue with the times

Dialoghaus Hamburg has been offering the permanent exhibition Dialogue with Time since May 2018 . This exhibition deals with different aspects of aging . The visitors are accompanied by guides who are between the ages of 70 and 80 and who lead the intergenerational dialogue as experts . At various adventure stations, visitors can collect body and sensory experiences on the subject of aging in a playful way. Together with the senior guides, you will also get involved in the social discourse on “aging” and will be encouraged to think about the potential of aging, sustainable lifestyles and challenges in society. Aging in society is mainly perceived as "decline". Problems and fears are discussed in the media and in society. Physical and mental limitations, isolation, dependency and care shortages are explosive and important topics of conversation that are also taken up in the dialogue with time . The main aim of this dialogue exhibition, however, is to overcome prejudices against older people, fears and false assumptions about stereotypes .

Exhibitions worldwide

All exhibitions that are offered in the Dialoghaus are social franchise products from Dialogue Social Enterprise GmbH (DSE), which is based in the business premises of the Dialoghaus in Hamburg. Following the idea that all people are “Citizens of a Global Village” , the aim is to not only improve the social impact at the local level, but also to influence global social change processes.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Story of Dialogue in the Dark. An exhibition with reverse roles? In: web.archive.org. Retrieved November 6, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Company register : Register entry for Dialoghaus Hamburg gGmbH. In: https://www.unternehmensregister.de/ . Bundesanzeiger Verlag, accessed on November 7, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b cf. Cohen, Orna and Heinecke, Andreas: Scenes of Silence. An Exhibition to Break Down Mental Prejudices. In: Visitor Studies Today . Vol. 7, No. 3 , 2004, p. 11-15 ( orna-co.com [PDF]).
  4. ^ Dialogue Social Enterprise GmbH: Founder. In: dialogue-se.com. Dialogue Social Enterprise, accessed November 6, 2018 .
  5. ↑ cf. Cohen, Orna / Heinecke, Andreas and Myllykodki, M .: The Social Lab. A new approach for science centers . In: ESCITE . Issue 55. 10-11.
  6. ↑ cf. Cohen, O. and Heinecke, A .: Social Fiction and Catalysts of Change. Enhancing Empathy through Dialog Exhibitions . In: Gokcigdem, Elif M. (Ed.): Fostering Empathy through Museums . Rowman & Littlefield, London 2016, ISBN 978-1-4422-6356-7 , pp. 56 .
  7. ↑ a b cf. Cohen, Orna et al .: Dialog in the Dark: What are the consequences and how can they be proved? Evaluation of: the Exhibition Dialogue in the Dark . Hamburg 2006.
  8. ^ Féral, Josette: Avignon 93 . Jeu 70, p. 127 .
  9. ^ Cohen, Orna: Scenes of Silence. An exhibition featuring non-verbal communication . undated (English, orna-co.com [PDF]).
  10. ↑ cf. ibid.Dialoghaus Hamburg gGmbH: 2018 Impact Report according to the Social Reporting Standard . Hamburg, S. 7 .
  11. ↑ cf. ibid. Cohen, O. and Heinecke, A .: Social Fiction as Catalysts of Change . London 2016, p. 63 .
  12. ↑ cf. ibid. Cohen, O./Heinecke, A. and Myllykodki, M .: The Social Lab . S. 1 .