#1 The World as Exhibition

Concept and Idea

MUSEUM ON THE SPOT is a modular exhibition concept that takes place in urban and non-urban, public or at least publicly accessible areas, detached from the structural facilities of a museum. MUSEUM ON THE SPOT comes to the people. It is not the visitor who goes to the museum, but the museum that goes to the people. Places are the objects. MUSEUM ON THE SPOT places spaces, places, buildings and their inhabitants, their history(ies), their non-history in context. The focus can be freely chosen — structural, socio-political, historical, art-historical, mixed, … MUSEUM ON THE SPOT is limited in time. The essential elements and at the same time the essential tasks of a museum are collecting, preserving and communicating. MUSEUM ON THE SPOT sees itself as a global museum. A museum whose collection changes, develops, destroys, decays and renews itself every day. The collection is the material world that surrounds us — in which we live. MUSEUM ON THE SPOT provides insights into its collections through exhibitions and special exhibitions. The viewer’s gaze is directed and focused. MUSEUM ON THE SPOT illuminates specific areas of its collection. Spotlights are used to put them in the spotlight, draw attention to them, process, document and archive them.

Content

A town, a municipality, a village, a company, … have the opportunity to present their history or the development of individual places, streets or areas. The original is not brought to the museum, but the museum comes to the original – to the original scene of historical events and developments. Selected items are historically reappraised. Developments and changes over the course of time are shown. The viewer is conveyed the message: ​“It all happened in this very place”. The objects in the collection – surrounding architecture, nature, traffic routes, etc. – are placed in historical context. Geographical location, positioning and orientation are of particular importance. They play a key role in the concept.

Media

MUSEUM ON THE SPOT is a media hybrid. It makes use of the digital world and also combines its potential with the physical world via an analog medium on site. The content of MUSEUM ON THE SPOT is intended to be accessible, low-threshold and free of charge to the general public.

The analog Medium – the Wallpaper

MUSEUM ON THE SPOT uses the medium of the wallpaper. In its historical development, the basic ideas of the wallpaper correspond to the basic ideas of the MUSEUM ON THE SPOT – free publishing, the use and display of public space, the approach to the population and its involvement, low-budget productions, the acceptance of available conditions, de-hierarchization, the offer of free knowledge transfer and free access to information. In principle, MUSEUM ON THE SPOT uses the local conditions — free wall surfaces, fences, billboards, … – if no basic substance is available for the installation/​lamination, MUSEUM ON THE SPOT provides its own exhibition modules (based on the form of advertising pillars or building fences).

In keeping with the theme of the wallpaper ​“everyone is an author, everyone is an editor, everyone is a reader”, the public is invited to actively participate. There are free spaces that can be used for posting, sticking and writing in order to continue the story. The exhibition is not a one-way communication – it enters into dialog, encourages contributions and can be an impetus for discussion. The entire wallpaper can also be taken from a dispenser in printed form in exchange for a coin. Interested parties can collect the newspapers from the various exhibitions. In this way, a comprehensive compendium of the MUSEUM ON THE SPOT is created over time.

The digital Medium – the Website

The exhibitions are collected and archived on an online platform. It is a constantly growing archive. The categorization within the website is based on ​“country / place / period / theme”. The publication for each exhibition/​intervention is available as a free download. Original prints can be purchased in limited editions and sent plus shipping costs. The website offers small towns and municipalities the opportunity to be named or presented on an equal footing with large cities. Even if the scope of the presentation will naturally be different, there will be a de-hierarchization of places. The focus is shifted away from classic tourist attractions and gives a face to lesser-known or unknown places, as well as places on the edge of the world and non-places, etc., and brings them into the public eye. History happens in every place – and this is what MUSEUM ON THE SPOT wants to show and make history visible. The on-site documentation of the exhibition will also take the form of photography and/​or audio/​video. This documentation of the individual interventions of the MUSEUM on site will also be published on the website, and visitors will also have the opportunity to react to the exhibition on the Internet and – in analogy to visitors’ books – write comments and contribute their own stories about these places.

Target Group

The exhibitions are aimed equally at residents, tourists and travelers. They are not only aimed at people who often and enjoy visiting museums, but above all at those who never or only rarely go to a museum. The threshold anxiety that is often associated with the idea of visiting a museum does not exist. The MUSEUM on site awaits its visitors in unexpected places, who ​“stumble upon” the museum by chance on their way.

Participation

MUSEUM ON THE SPOT has a global concept. It is a platform, a ​“brand”. Exhibitions can be taken over by the curatorial team – from research to the finished product. It is also possible for external parties (freelance curators, institutions, etc.) to publish content. This content is designed, implemented, produced and archived by MUSEUM ON THE SPOT. The team reserves the right to check the content provided, to pay attention to quality and to reject incorrect, poorly researched content or content of a dubious nature. opening up the MUSEUM ON THE SPOT to externally submitted works expands the pool of people and the reach. Freelance curators or interested parties worldwide have the opportunity to become part of the whole with their work.