#Postcolonial #Anthropocene #History of Science #Interdisciplinary Research #transversal Curating #Provenance #artistic Research #ecology #Veterinary Medicine #Architectural History #Collections

The Tieranatomisches Theater (Veterinary Anatomy Theater) is an exhibition space and stage for experimental forms of presentation and a laboratory for curatorial practices.

As a research institution at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the Tieranatomisches Theater focuses on critical examination of the multifaceted role of material culture, collections and institutions. For this purpose, the sciences and creative disciplines are brought into an exchange with each other as well as with actors from the arts and civil society. The aim is to make the diversity of knowledge visible while at the same time developing new formats and perspectives for exhibitions.

More than 200 years ago, Carl Gotthard Langhans created an outstanding building. He fused the ancient architectures of the round temple (Pantheon) and the amphitheater into a new, enlightened architecture of knowledge. It established anatomy as a link between scientific, aesthetic and social practice. This integration of research and public outreach motivates us today to further develop exhibitions as an independent form of knowledge.

More than 30 scientific collections from the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin offer a unique starting point. With the new Object Laboratory, the Helmholtz-Centre for Cultural Techniques has created a unique research facility next to the Tieranatomisches Theater in which collections can be examined in an interdisciplinary and applied manner. The interactive permanent exhibition „Meshwork of Things” provides for an overview of the diversity, history and current use of the Humboldt-Universität’s collections in research and teaching

Since 2013, exhibitions and event series have been developed in cooperation with collections and institutes of the Humboldt University and other universities, museums, foundations, theater and music ensembles and many other actors.

• Cluster of Excellence Image Knowledge Design, Humboldt University Berlin
• Humboldt Forum Kultur GmbH / Humboldt Forum Foundation
• Museum of Natural History (co-production "HUMANIMAL", 2013/14 and "Mensch Macht Pferd", 2014/15
• Berlin Museum of Medical History of the Charité ("Collection Showcase" and "Object Laboratory", 2013 -
  today, "On the Edge", 2015)
• Berlin City Museum Foundation (2016)
• Hanns Eisler Academy of Music Berlin ("Polymythos", 2014)
• University of the Arts - Institute for Art in Context ("Our Animals", 2014)
• Zentralmagazin Naturwissenschaftlicher Sammlungen, Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg,
  ("Our animals", 2014, "The world as a forest", 2017)
• Ethnological Museum Dahlem / Free University Berlin, "The Skull of Mangi Meli" (2018 - 2019)
• Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage
• Berlin Postkolonial e.V., "The Dead, as far as [ ] can remember" (2018-2019)

The Tieranatomisches Theater is in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and the many civil society initiatives against discrimination and racism. As an exhibition house, we have a special responsibility in dealing with sensitive collections and the public negotiation of a post-colonial history of knowledge. We would particularly like to thank the post-colonial initiatives and projects that have given us the confidence to learn from them and work with them over the past few years.