Neil MacGregor to be artistic director of the Humboldt Forum
Renowned British museum expert Neil MacGregor to develop the ambitious Berlin cultural project’s focus and structures.
There was talk of a coup, with media reports of euphoria, jubilation and excitement when state secretary for culture Monika Grütters announced the appointment of renowned British museum expert Neil MacGregor as head of the foundation committee of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin. MacGregor, a Scot, came to Berlin for his inaugural visit in early May and inspected the building site of Berlin’s City Palace. There had long been speculation about how the “most ambitious cultural project of our country” would develop in terms of its focus. Grütters was clearly overjoyed and relieved about MacGregor’s appointment when she made the announcement: “What a stroke of luck”, she said, “that he could be persuaded to take on this new challenge in Berlin.” From October 2015, MacGregor will chair the three-member committee alongside the art historian Horst Bredekamp and the archaeologist Hermann Parzinger, developing the Humboldt Forum’s focus and structures.
Former exchange student
MacGregor is regarded as a polymath. He studied German and French at Oxford, philosophy at the École normale supérieure in Paris and law at the University of Edinburgh. He then acquired a degree in art history at the University of London’s Courtauld Institute of Art. Before taking over the National Gallery in London, MacGregor taught at the university and was editor-in-chief at a leading art magazine. He has been the director of the British Museum since 2002. His “History of the World in 100 Objects” caused quite a stir, as indeed did the exhibition “Germany – Memories of a Nation”, which only ended in early 2015. Born in Glasgow in 1946, MacGregor came to Hamburg on a school exchange in the 1950s and speaks fluent German. Apparently German Chancellor Angela Merkel played a key part in persuading him to accept the post – during a visit to London she spent almost as much time at the Germany exhibition as she did in Downing Street.
The objective of the Humboldt Forum, which is due to open in 2019 behind the facades of the newly constructed City Palace, is to explore questions of global society. MacGregor’s credo is as follows: “There is a world culture: everyone must devote themselves with the same understanding to solving the same problems.” When he was introduced, he said: “When the non-European collections from Dahlem are exhibited at the Berlin Palace it will be possible here in the centre of Berlin to view the cultures of the world better than anywhere else. This is an historic opportunity for Germany, for Europe, for the entire world.”
Awarding of the Friedrich Gundolf Prize to Neil MacGregor at the spring conference of the German Academy for Language and Literature from 13 to 17 May 2015 in London
