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Te Papa to Berlin : the making of two museums / Ken Gorbey

Author
Gorbey, Ken
Additional Titles
Making of two museums
Published
Dunedin, New Zealand : Otago University Press, Te Whare Tā o Te Wānanga o Ōtākou, 2020.
Copyright Date
©2020
Physical Description
1 online resource (245 pages, 31 pages of plates) : illustrations (chiefly colour)
Additional Creators
Blumenthal, W. Michael, 1926-
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Contents
Foreword / W. Michael Blumenthal -- Preface -- 1. Growing up at the bottom of the world -- 2. Waikato and Tainui -- 3. Te Papa -- 4. The genius of Cliff Whiting -- 5. Telling our stories -- 6. Opening day -- 7. What's the boy from Maungatautari doing here? -- 8. Storytelling -- 9. Nigel Cox: words and action -- 10. A Holocaust museum as magical theatre -- 11. Bringing hope -- 12. Citizens of Berlin -- 13. Danirl Libeskind, architect -- 14. Reaching for the unexpected -- 15. The era of problems -- 16. Making progress -- 17. The Gallery of the Missing -- 18. Triumph, 9/11 and despair -- 19. Time to go -- 20. Germany and the East: a personal odyssey -- 21. A new view of New Zealand.
Summary
Ken Gorbey is a remarkable man who for 15 years was involved with developing and realising the revolutionary cultural concept that became Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand. Then in 1999 he was headhunted by W. Michael Blumenthal to salvage the Jewish Museum Berlin, which was failing and fast becoming a national embarrassment. Led by Gorbey, a young, inexperienced staff, facing impossible deadlines, rose to the challenge and the museum, housed in Daniel Libeskind's lightning-bolt design, opened to acclaim. As Blumenthal writes in the foreword: 'I can no longer remember what possessed me to seriously consider actually reaching out to this fabled Kiwi as a possible answer to my increasingly serious dilemma ... ' but the notion paid off and today the JMB is one of Germany's premier cultural institutions. Te Papa to Berlin is a great story - a lively insider perspective about cultural identity and nation building, about how museums can act as healing social instruments by reconciling dark and difficult histories, and about major shifts in museum thinking and practice over time. It is also about the difference that can be made by a visionary and highly effective leader and team builder.
Subject(s)
Genre(s)
ISBN
9781988592978 (electronic bk.)
1988592976 (electronic bk.)
9781988592954 (electronic bk.)
198859295X (electronic bk.)
9781988592374
1988592372
Note
Forword by W. Michael Blumenthal.
Bibliography Note
Includes bibliographical references.
View MARC record | catkey: 43301425