Interview by Felix Hofmann, journalist at the Berlin TAZ newspaper in the TAZ Schlossaneignung Blog.
Interview & Publication, Felix Hofmann @ TAZ, Berlin, 27 November 2024
Interview
Elizabeth Sikiaridi & Frans Vogelaar
We developed Humboldt Jungle when the funding for the Humboldt Forum’s baroque façade, which was actually supposed to be funded by the Berliner Schloss Förderverein, had not yet been secured.
As an alternative to the planned stone façade, we proposed a jungle-like planting of the façade and roof. It was already clear at the time that an urban heat island with little greenery would be created at this location. It is very important to us to think culture and nature together. A Humboldt Jungle with plants from all over the world would also be a visible reference to the non-European collections inside the building. After all, we also wondered whether the explorer, naturalist and sustainability pioneer Alexander von Humboldt would feel at home in a castle mock-up…
We sought contact with the Humboldt Forum right from the start. In 2015, we presented our project together with Berlin MP Notker Schweikhardt and his collaborator Uta Belkius at an event with representatives of the Forum. Mr. von Boddien, who was present at this meeting, said that the image of the Humboldt Jungle was too appealing “not to feel compelled to immediately argue against it”.
In 2019, the Humboldt Jungle was discussed in the Bundestag. In response to the BÜNDNIS 90 / DIE GRÜNEN parliamentary group asking “what the current status of plans to install greenery on the façade, a so-called Humboldt Jungle” was, the Federal Government replied that “all façades of the Humboldt Forum have been completed as planned and that no further measures are planned for the façades”.
Elizabeth Sikiaridi & Frans Vogelaar
We developed Humboldt Jungle when the funding for the Humboldt Forum’s baroque façade, which was actually supposed to be funded by the Berliner Schloss Förderverein, had not yet been secured.
As an alternative to the planned stone façade, we proposed a jungle-like planting of the façade and roof. It was already clear at the time that an urban heat island with little greenery would be created at this location. It is very important to us to think culture and nature together. A Humboldt Jungle with plants from all over the world would also be a visible reference to the non-European collections inside the building. After all, we also wondered whether the explorer, naturalist and sustainability pioneer Alexander von Humboldt would feel at home in a castle mock-up…
We sought contact with the Humboldt Forum right from the start. In 2015, we presented our project together with Berlin MP Notker Schweikhardt and his collaborator Uta Belkius at an event with representatives of the Forum. Mr. von Boddien, who was present at this meeting, said that the image of the Humboldt Jungle was too appealing “not to feel compelled to immediately argue against it”.
In 2019, the Humboldt Jungle was discussed in the Bundestag. In response to the BÜNDNIS 90 / DIE GRÜNEN parliamentary group asking “what the current status of plans to install greenery on the façade, a so-called Humboldt Jungle” was, the Federal Government replied that “all façades of the Humboldt Forum have been completed as planned and that no further measures are planned for the façades”.
Elizabeth Sikiaridi & Frans Vogelaar
Ten years ago, there was already great unease in Berlin’s civil society and among cultural professionals about the demolition of the Palace of the Republic, the looming dummy palace and the missed opportunities to construct a contemporary cultural building. At the same time, however, there was a Bundestag resolution.
With our project, we wanted to reinterpret the site and thus contribute to its appropriation. The press also responded very positively to our counter-proposal as a “wake-up call” (taz) to “save the Humboldt Forum” (Die Zeit).
Elizabeth Sikiaridi & Frans Vogelaar
When it became clear that the baroque façade would be built – even if it meant using taxpayers’ money – we developed in 2016 a new proposal: the Humboldt Volcano, a greenhouse pavilion with a botanical garden and vertical water element. Native trees and shrubs are to grow on the outside of the Humboldt Volcano and plants from all over the world on the inside. The Volcano marks the entrance to the Forum and a path leads from the subway to the roof, which is currently barely accessible. Our proposal would give the palace a more extravert contemporary face, radiating into the city. The Humboldt Volcano is an elaborate architectural design proposal that we believe could solve many of the problems of the Humboldt Forum and could be realized in the near future.
Elizabeth Sikiaridi & Frans Vogelaar
Next to our Humboldt Forum projects, we work internationally on interventions that open up and reinterpret controversial places, such as the reinterpretation and transformation of the cenotaph of the dictator Franco in the “Valle de los Caídos” (Valley of the Fallen) near Madrid or the Korean Demilitarized Zone. We use the potential of the outsiders’ position to develop new perspectives on seemingly unresolvable conflict situations, which has also proved helpful in other historical cases.
This outsiders’perspective – we are both migrants – also characterizes the approach in our Humboldt Forum projects. It gives us the freedom to refer to other German traditions that oppose the palace and its power structures. Rather, our references are elements of German culture that are imbued with an anarchist and independent spirit, ecological concerns and a sense of adventure, such as Alexander von Humboldt’s discoveries and ideas or the glass buildings of architect Bruno Taut.
For us, the Humboldt Forum is much more than just a place where the conflicts of German history come together. It is a forum in which culture is negotiated and developed further. The Dutch journalist and art historian Merlijn Schoonenboom wrote in his book “Ein Palast für die Republik: Eine kleine Geschichte der großen deutschen Suche nach Identität“ (“A Palace for the Republic – A Brief History of the Great German Search for Identity”), that our Humboldt Forum projects provide an answer to the most pressing question of contemporary cultural identity: the search for a balance between tradition and innovation.
Elizabeth Sikiaridi & Frans Vogelaar
The mission of the Humboldt Forum is to create an agora for global cultural dialog. We find that very promising. But why should this ambition be limited to just one central location in Berlin? It would make more sense to pursue a forward-looking approach that focuses on decentralized interaction in order to take account of the diversity of global society.
We should make use of the current and emerging possibilities of mobility and digitalization. We are therefore currently developing the Humboldt KOSMOS project on the basis of a digital twin of the Humboldt Forum, a hybrid gaming environment with small internationally traveling stations. Humboldt KOSMOS could facilitat transcultural exchange and help negotiate the diverse conflict situations surrounding today’s Forum and its practices. We launched the project together with the Gamelab of the Berlin Humboldt University with an international workshop at the beginning of this year.
While Humboldt Jungle formulated a vision for the rewilding of the Forum and Humboldt Volcano developed an elaborate architectural design solution, Humboldt COSMOS is the third part of our triptych. A fictional universe based on the Humboldt Forum that opens up a multitude of possible futures. Humboldt KOSMOS is also a prototype for innovative cultural spaces dedicated to global interaction, an experimentation field for the future of museums and cultural institutions, and an exchange platform to promote desirable shared natural-cultural futures. The aim is to foster an innovative ecosystem of international cooperation that could be relevant in dealing with the complexities of today’s globalized world and tackling the planetary environmental crisis.
Elizabeth Sikiaridi & Frans Vogelaar
We are not surprised by far-right donors. We are in a time of perma-crisis. We therefore find it important – also with our Humboldt Forum projects – to contribute to opening up spaces of possibility. We believe that creatives have the imagination and skills to develop visions and design new narratives in order to open up potential for positive change. And we see this as our responsibility. This is also the driving force behind Humboldt KOSMOS, a hybrid co-creative gaming platform where people and communities around the world can work together to tackle challenges and create desirable futures.
Humboldt KOSMOS facilitates transcultural exchange and helps negotiate the diverse conflict situations surrounding today’s forum and its practices.
We launched the project together with the Gamelab of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in an international workshop Januari 2024.
related PROJECTS
related PRESS
An article by Philipp Oswalt, an initiator of Sclossaneignung Initiative, in DOM magazine 17, mentions Humboldt Jungle, Hybrid Space Lab’sinitiative for greening the Humboldt Forum façade.
Publication Schlossaneignung, Philipp Oswalt @ DOM magazine No. 17, DOM Publishers, Berlin, 1 November 2024
Museum Director Paul Spies takes stock: “The streams of tourists are bypassing the Humboldt Forum”
There were wonderful proposals for the palace, such as a green façade.
Interview Paul Spies by Birgit Rieger @ Tagesspiegel, Berlin, 29 June 2024
Museum Director Paul Spies takes stock: “The streams of tourists are bypassing the Humboldt Forum”
There were wonderful proposals for the palace, such as a green façade.
Interview Paul Spies by Birgit Rieger @ Tagesspiegel, Berlin, 29 June 2024
Hybrid Space Lab developed a series of projects for the radical appropriation of the controversial Humboldt Forum in Berlin:
Whereas Humboldt Jungle formulated a strong vision for the re-wilding of the Forum and Humboldt Volcano developed a concrete architectural design solution that addresses many of the foreseeable problems in the Humboldt Forum and that could be realized in the (near) future, Humboldt Kosmos is a fictional universe based on Humboldt Forum that opens up a multiplicity of possible futures.
Publication Humboldt Futures @ Atlas der Datenkörper 2, Transcript Verlag, Germany, 27 May 2024
Hybrid Space Lab developed a series of projects for the radical appropriation of the controversial Humboldt Forum in Berlin:
Whereas Humboldt Jungle formulated a strong vision for the re-wilding of the Forum and Humboldt Volcano developed a concrete architectural design solution that addresses many of the foreseeable problems in the Humboldt Forum and that could be realized in the (near) future, Humboldt Kosmos is a fictional universe based on Humboldt Forum that opens up a multiplicity of possible futures.
Publication Humboldt Futures @ Atlas der Datenkörper 2, Transcript Verlag, Germany, 27 May 2024
A sort of staircase enveloped in jungle thickets, a waterfall and food offerings on the way up to the roof of Berlin’s city castle.
Publication @ RBB, Berlin, 5 February 2023
As adventurous as Humboldt himself: The design by the architecture firm Hybrid Space Lab for the Berlin Palace.
Publication by Julia Weiss @ Tagesspiegel, Berlin, 31 January 2023
How to re-signify heritage and physical monuments with the help of creative visions and hybrid (combined physical and digital) tools? Hybrid Heritage engages with this challenge presenting a series of projects researching and designing contemporary interpretations and further development of heritage from a multicultural perspective. Including the integration of digital technology and media networks in heritage projects, Hybrid Heritage also focuses on cultural hybridity in today’s globalized world.
Publication Hybrid Heritage @ Identity and Heritage, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Stuttgart, Germany, 1 Februari 2022
We need a fresh, radically innovative and solutions-oriented approach to address the various forms of contested heritage sites in a way that is fit for the 21st century.
Article on Hybrid Space Lab’s work on contested monuments, is published in Italy.
Publication Re-Charting Places @ Contested Spaces – Concerted Projects: Designs for Vulnerable Memories, LetteraVentidue Edizioni, Syracuse, Italy, April 2021
What would it be like if a volcano erupted next to the new Berlin City Palace?
If huge trees grew there, exotic plants proliferated and a waterfall cascaded down?
Publication Future Heritage @ Points of View, DASA Museum, Dortmund, Germany 1 March 2020
Humboldt Jungle and Humboldt Volcano are mentioned by author and historian Merlijn Schoonenboom in the book on identity “Een kleine geschiedenis van de grootse Duitse worsteling”.
Publication A small history of the great German struggle, Merlijn Schoonenboom @ Querido Publishers, Amsterdam, 5 December 2019
Hybrid Space Lab plan is in line with the undoubtedly most important question for contemporary cultural identity: the relationship between tradition and innovation. Their idea of a growing green world around the castle is the portrayal of the idea of tradition as a dynamic phenomenon.
Publication A small history of the biggest German struggle, Merlijn Schoonenboom @ Querido Publishers, Amsterdam, November 2019
The main Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, published an article on the Green party questions on the implementation of the Humboldt Jungle raised in the Bundestag, the German parliament.
“And in order to honor their name, the Greens asked for the “state of the considerations (…), a greenery, a so-called Humboldt Jungle, to be installed”. The brief reply: “Further measures on the facades are not provided.”
Publication Humboldt costs, yes and no @ Der Tagesspiegel, Germany, 19 July 2019
One of the “questions” concerning the Humboldt Forum that the German Green Party (Fraktion BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN) put before the German Parliament, the “Deutscher Bundestag” on 2 July 2019 was:
Question 22: “What is the current state of the considerations on the part of the Federal Government for the greening of the facades, to install a so-called Humboldt Jungle?”
Publication 19/11306 Answer @ Deutscher Bundestag, German Federal Government, Germany, 2 July 2019
In the chapter “International Developments; The Schlossplatz and the Museum Island in Berlin” Humboldt Volcano is mentioned as the example of the rethinking of the Humboldt Forum.
Publication The Vienna Hofburg since 1918 @ Institute of Art and Music Historical Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria, 1 October 2018
How is Berlin becoming a socially just smart city?
The Make City Festival discussed ideas like the Humboldt Volcano at the Humboldt Forum designed by Hybrid Space Lab.
Publication, Susanne Isabel Yacoub @ Garten + Landschaft, Germany, 15 August 2018
The “MakeCity 2018” architecture festival with 250 events in 18 days aims to make architecture in the capital more transparent and invites people to join in the conversation and help develop it
Article @ YEAST, Germany, 15 June 2018
With the increasing urbanization and the virulent climate crisis, interest in nature is also growing. In various formats, such as talks, discussions, guided tours, exhibitions, workshops, open-house events and more, the public is invited to think of green and gray infrastructure in the city. Something like this: what if we were to look at urban space from the perspective of animals and plants?
Publication @ Baunetz, Germany, 15 June 2018
Rüdiger Schaper, author and head of the cultural department of the Berlin “Tagesspiegel” presents his biography on Alexander von Humboldt and discusses Hybrid Space Lab’s Humboldt Volcano project during our Studio Talk @ MakeCity Festival. Moderation is by Merlijn Schoonenboom, historian and journalist.
Studio Talk, Reading, Presentation & Discussion @ MakeCity Festival, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Berlin, 5 June 2018
The Swiss architectural magazine Archithese published “Humboldt-Dschungel” as part of the issue on “Ruines”.
How would it be if the Berlin City Palace grew huge trees, sprouted up exotic plants and toppled a waterfall?
The Think Tank Hybrid Space Lab presents a refreshingly ruinous idea in the discussion about the controversial reconstruction.
Publication Humboldt Jungle @ archithese, Architecture Magazine, Switzerland, 15 January 2018
The Dutch and Flemish cultural association “Berlijnse Avonden e.V” presents Humboldt Jungle and Humboldt Volcano and invites you on January 6 to the studio of Elizabeth Sikiaridi and Frans Vogelaar, the architects for the new Berlin city palace – the Humboldt Forum – the Humboldt Volcano and the Humboldt Jungle have been designed.
Lecture & Discussion @ Berlijnse Avonden e.V., Berlin, 6 January 2018
Only a few construction projects in Germany are more controversial than the rebuilding of the City Palace in Berlin. With a bold plan, the Dutch professor Frans Vogelaar knows how to break the stuck debate.In the heart of Berlin one of the most controversial buildings of the moment stands out: the rebuilding of the Berliner Stadtschloss.
Publication, Bertus Bouman @ duitslandnieuws.nl, Berlin, 15 September 2017
Rüdiger Schaper, head of the cultural section of the German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel presents the Humboldt Volcano in an article entitled “Welcome to the Jungle – rescheduling is not forbidden, there is still time. The article, which gives an overview of the current discussion about the Humboldt Forum, is illustrated with a large-scale image of Humboldt Volcano. Humboldt Volcano acts as a symbol and icon for a better Humboldt Forum.
Publication Rüdiger Schaper @ Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin, 1 September 2017
In Deutsche Bauzeitung the author Bernhard Schulz, who is editor in the culture edition of Tagesspiegel Berlin publishes an article on the reconstruction of the Berlin City Palace.
The article also refers to Humboldt Volcano.
Article Fake Architecture, Bernhard Schulz @ DB Deutsche Bauzeitung, Germany, 1 September 2017
Reconciling supporters and opponents of “Humboldt Forum”, the Humboldt Jungle and Humboldt Volcano received a strong positive reception in the Berlin cultural world.
Publication Green Emperor made in Greece, Nikos Vatopulos @ Kathimerini Greek Newspaper, 24 January 2017
The special art edition of the German newspaper DER TAGESSPIEGEL Kunst 2016, which appears during the 9th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, publishes an article by Bettina Homann, an interview on the projects Humboldt Volcano and Humboldt Jungle.
Publication Design Zone by Bettina Homann @ DER TAGESSPIEGEL Kunst 2016, Berlin, 2 September 2016
Berliners, do you want this fairy tale castle?
Berliner Kurier, the Berlin newspaper, publishes an article by Stefanie Hildebrandt on Humboldt Jungle.
Publication Berliners, do you want this fairy tale castle? Stefanie Hildebrandt @ Berliner Kurier, 20 February 2016
DIE ZEIT, the German weekly newspaper publishes an article by Dr. Werner Bloch on Humboldt Dschungel.
Berlin discusses a big idea: the Humboldt Dschungel.
It is the idea to elicit from the bold cultural monster, the Humboldt Forum, something more playful, rampant, outlandish…Is Humboldt Dschungel the better Humboldt Forum?
Publication Is this the rescue?, Dr. Werner Bloch @ DIE ZEIT, Nr. 9/2016, Germany, 18 February 2016
German radio presents interviews and discussions on Hybrid Space Lab’s Humboldt Jungle proposal for the future of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin.
Interview, Dr. Werner Bloch @ MDR Figaro, WDR3, Deutschlandfunk, Ö1 ORF1, Germany & Austria, 10, 11, 18 February 2016
Discussion @ SWR2 Wissensmagazin, Germany, 11 February 2016
Discussion @ NDR3 Journal, Germany, 11 February 2016
Discussion @ SR2 Kulturmagazin Länge Sieben, Germany, 11 February 2016
Discussion Greening of the facade is “absurd idea” @ Deutschlandradio Kultur, Germany, 15 February 2016
Discussion Wilhelm von Boddien & Elizabeth Sikiaridi on the Humboldt Jungle @ Deutschlandradio Kultur, Germany, 19 February 2016
Humboldt Jungle press, radio and WEB publications.
Awareness Campaign Humboldt Jungle @ Press, Germany & International, 2015-2016
At the Berlin Castle, where the baroque façade is still missing, “Humboldt Jungle” is to grow.
On Tuesday evening, the project initiators spoke to experts and representatives of the various castle initiatives about possible implementations.
Publication Seductive Image, Brigitte Werneburg, Journalist @ TAZ, Berlin, 8 July 2015
related NEWS
Lecture at the UNA University PhD Workshop Heritage Hybridizations: Concepts, Scales and Spaces.
Lecture Hybrid Heritage @ UNA University Alliance Europe, Panthéon-Sorbonne University, Galerie Colbert, 2 rue Vivienne, Paris, 31 March 2021, Online, 1 July 2022
Published @ UNA University, Panthéon-Sorbonne University, Paris, 1 July 2022
As in the 21st Century the world develops a deeper understanding of heritage, digital technology is ever more present in our reading of the past. Hybrid Space Lab’s lecture Hybrid Heritage addresses how to best unlock the unique potentialities of this interdisciplinary and technological moment.
Lecture Hybrid Heritage @ AMPS [Architecture, Media, Politics, Society] Conference, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK, 29-30 June 2020
Professor Sharon Macdonald, Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Social Anthropology at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, refers to our Humboldt Jungle project as an example and an inspiration for the creative appropriation and transformation of the Humboldt Forum.
Article, Professor Sharon Macdonald, Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Social Anthropology @ Humboldt Forum, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institute of European Ethnology, Berlin, 15 June 2020
The Mart Stam Stiftung frequently organizes symposia in cooperation with the Royal Dutch Embassy of Berlin. The aim is to create a dialog on interdisciplinary themes in the field of art and design in the Netherlands and Germany by juxtaposing cultural differences.
Poster @ Mart Stam Stiftung, Berlin, 15 November 2019
Already existing and financed facade parts will be assembled and all still open areas of the facade of the Humboldt Forum will be planted with botanically exciting greenery and successively added to later.
Such a design, the Humboldt Jungle, not only visualises the interdisciplinary approach of the Humboldt brothers.
Expert Meeting Politics meets culture: ANAlyseS, ideaS, CoNcePts @ GRÜN.kulturell Kulturcontainer, Berlin, 9 July 2015