Deutsches Historisches Museum - Verf�hrung Freiheit. Kunst in Europa seit 1945 - Blog

There are many hundreds of thousands of objects in the German Historical Museum (DHM) collections. They are the source of many of the objects in the museum’s permanent exhibition and many special exhibitions. The Desire for Freedom, however, is an exhibition with objects from across Europe and beyond. Organising and coordinating these loans and ensuring their safe arrival at the museum (and departure afterwards) is the job of our project manager, Rania Sid Otmane. With Berlin being only the first destination for the artworks from elsewhere, her work will continue without interruption. In February it is again ‘time to travel’, this time to Milan. 

I’m Rania Sid Otmane and I’ve been working on the exhibition as project manager since 2011. I have various duties. For one, I am responsible for loan requests. Initially we enquire about the objects we wanted loaned for the exhibition. If a loan was refused, I looked for or researched alternative objects I am also responsible for editing the images for the catalogue and writing texts, for instance the essay ‘Call of the Wild’, on Svein Flygari Jonahsen. Recently I served as a sort of intermediary, something that I enjoy doing. I am in close contact with the artists and lenders and have been able to convince some artists to interview, for instance for the press or our social media.

Q. As project manager, you coordinate the shipment of the artworks to the museum. How does that take place?

‘I first request the loan of the object and after consent has been granted I begin finalising the loan agreement, which contains many specific points in need of clarification. For instance, how is the object insured and how will it be transported—in a climatised case or otherwise? Once we have sorted these matters out, we set a date and have the object picked up from the respective lender.

This is somewhat easier with some objects, such as video work. Nowadays a DVD can be sent with the mail, while other objects can not. Then we have to hire a specialised art transport firm, which is more complicated than shipping something through mail. Some videos we receive via the Internet. This is all much easier now.'

Q. You communicate daily with galleries, museums, institutions, lenders, and artists across Europe and beyond. Which communications anecdote do your remember particularly well?

‘As I began to make loan enquiries, I thought that the communication would be almost exclusively in English. Actually, in this case French was more important. I communicated with many lenders and artist exclusively in French. And there are many anecdotes, such as when I would try to reach someone on the phone: early on, when I would make calls, at least to some countries, someone would answer, but then hang up immediately.

I didn’t take it personally. I knew immediately that there was a language problem. First, I would briefly introduce myself—just say my name—but the person would hang up anyway. Then I would try again, first speaking English, then German, and then English again. Sometimes I would look on the Internet, to find out how to say “Good day” in Bulgarian, or in Georgian. And then it actually worked out. I discovered that a lot of people were very interested in helping us, which I found very positive.’

Q. The path that an artwork takes from the loan request up to its arrival at museum: could you tell us about the artwork for which the process was particularly complicated?

‘That would be an artwork by Ilya Kabakov, who now lives in New York. We originally intended to have a piece called Sunday Evening (1980) in our exhibition. It was very difficult to locate this work. I searched everywhere, starting in with Europe. I contacted people in Russia, primarily in Moscow, than I tried again in Germany and I finally reached someone who put me on the right track. And I was told, “No, the artwork is now no longer in Europe, but perhaps you should enquire by the artist himself.” I was thus given Emilia and Ilya Kabokov’s E-mail address and could send an E-mail enquiring if he could provide us with an object for our exhibition. I described the project and that is how this correspondence with Ilya, but especially with Emilia began. And we will now exhibit the work Luprov (Love), which was sent from New York.’

Q. Which object and which room in The Desire for Freedom exhibition are you particularly happy about?

‘That is a very difficult question for me, because I naturally have a personal involvement with every artwork that I enquired about and was able to acquire for the exhibition. All of the works in the exhibition are wonderful.’

I am especially happy about the The Call of the Wild. This is a work by Svein Flygari Johansen. I discovered him more or less by coincidence and got to know him. One morning—it was probably around six—I was listening to a report on the BBC, about a special exhibition in London, in Beaconsfield, and it discussed about Johansen’s art. When I arrived at the DHM that morning I told Professor Flacke, our exhibition curator, about it and researched it a bit on the Internet. Dr. Flacke was interested and said I should contact the artist, which I did. And now we are going to present this work in the exhibition. I also wrote the essay on Call of the Wild in the online supplement to the catalogue. I am also pleased that this work is in Room 8. I have been interested in this room with the title ‘A Hundred Years’ since the very beginning. This chapter has to do with nature, with natural treasures. It is perhaps pure coincidence that I came across Call of the Wild and I am therefore very happy that it is included.'

Q: In the last weeks before the opening you watched over the objects arrival at the museum as well as their installation. How did your daily routine look?

‘The first thing I do is to take care of E-mail, filing new information and writing answers. At the same time, I check my calendar and make all the necessary telephone calls. Normally the first appointment is a courier delivery around 9 a.m., after which I will be meeting with couriers and artists throughout the day, accompanying them or taking care of any particular needs they might have. I bring them to the temporary depot, where the cases containing the artworks are unpacked. The artwork is examined and its condition precisely jointly documented with the museum conservators. The time needed can vary. The artwork is then brought to the exhibition space and installed.

In the meantime, I may have to contact lenders, if the museum needs additional information about the object’s installation. I will also be returning calls, because there is a lot of telephone and E-mail traffic during the installation phase. It is important to return calls and E-mails promptly. All remaining questions about the exhibition and opening need to be answered or clarified. In the evening, I go through the procedure again, processing my E-mail, updating the schedule, and organising the next day. That’s covers it pretty well. But it really is a lot of fun.’

What we didn’t ask:

Whether she sometimes loses all interest in communicating.

Where is her work place at the DHM:

In the project office in the administration building behind the Zeughaus.

What else did she say:

It is actually impossible to describe an artwork that is close to your heart in three lines.

When does she feel the most free:

'Outdoors. Outside, in a natural setting. In a tropical forest, where I’ve often been. Or in the desert, where I also have been several times. But, yes, basically anywhere where I’m close to nature.’