MESO – Thomas Mann House e. V.: Subtle media stations for historic building

Frankfurt’s Paulskirche is a historic symbol for the democratic movement in Germany. With a gentle interior intervention, we helped take political education on site to a digital level. Six minimal media station were used for a temporary exhibition to let visitors explore contemporary voices on democracy.

Exploring democracy
Making-of
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Exploring democracy

accessible education

During World War II, Thomas Mann gave a series of historic BBC radio addresses from his exile in California. Based on this principle, Thomas Mann House e. V. collected current ideas on the renewal of democracy by international intellectuals, scientists and artists in the form of video lectures as the series 55 Voices for Democracy.

The “Wandelhalle”
© MESO / Constantin Urban

In close cooperation with the city of Frankfurt am Main, we developed a flexible system for integrating the talks into the existing permanent exhibition. The media terminals present the videos lectures along with background information on the speakers and the project. They are embedded into six niches in the foyer, the so-called “Wandelhalle”, and blend seemlessly with the architecture thanks to minimalist object and interface design.

This intervention is part of an ongoing activation of the venue before its 175 year anniversary in 2023. Therefore, we opted for a universal hardware setup and modular technology that allows for content to be updated, changed and expanded later. This enables the curators to integrate them long-term into their exhibition concept and use them as a versatile communication and education tool.

The new media stations were presented to the public during an official event with further talks on site. With a reduced capacity due to distancing regulations, we were commissioned to record and broadcast the event to multiple channels via livestream.