Museum Pankow: Dinge des Lebens

The exhibition in one sentence: An exhibition made up of objects from the collection of the Museum Pankow, telling the history of one of Berlin's quarters through the biographies of things like bunk beds from a second world war bunker, restaurant cups, shop signs and everything else that could possibly tell us something about the turbulent past of Pankow.

I liked: The diversity. Lots of things to discover and interersting stories to be learned through them. Makes you aware of what used to be in this or that street 100 years ago. So many lives which have been lived in Pankow!

I disliked: The fact that there were no labels, just numbers which you had to write down. You could then type in the number at one of the computers available to find out the story of the object (in German only). Why so complicated?

Favorite object: The tickets for a bubble-bath (5th picture from below)! Did you know that there were still public bathing houses in Berlin in the 1980s? Apparently most apartments in the old east did not have a bathroom yet, so people had to go there instead to have a shower!

What about the exhibition design? Well, it's a small communal museum, what can you expect.

Fun fact: Very much like the exhibtion of the Museum Neukölln...

Parental advisory: Lots to discover, no text: passes the children-test.

Overall rate: A nice, little exhibiton, especially for people living in Pankow and interested in the history of their Kiez and also for those who are a fan of the anthropological notion of the social biography of things. I count myself belonging to both categories.

Information:

Museum Pankow

Dinge des Lebens

17.06.2012 until 07.04.2013

Prenzlauer Allee 227/228
10405 Berlin

Tue - Sun 10.00 - 18.00 

 free admission

Link to the exhibiton

Link to the digital database, unfortunately only available in German