Munich: The Biotopia project is further delayed – Munich
What will become of Biotopia? Will it end up being a utopia? The plans for the new natural history museum in Nymphenburg Palace have been on hold for more than a year. Despite extensive preparatory work, no funds were reserved for the construction project in the current state budget. When it will continue is uncertain. Nevertheless, Minister of Art Markus Blume (CSU) reassured the museum planners: “Biotopia has lost none of its charm, it is and remains an exciting project for education and science. That means: You want to try to build cheaper, and possibly faster. There are still no clear statements as to how this should work.
Corona, energy crisis, increases in construction costs – the additional burdens on public budgets mean, according to the minister, “that all projects are currently being put to the test”. Therefore, no decision is currently expected. A modern natural history museum is likely to be important for the Bavarian educational landscape, and the prospect of being included as a research museum in the Leibniz Association is prospects. Then, as with the Deutsches Museum, the federal government would contribute half of the costs.
For that to happen, however, the museum would first have to exist. Eleven years ago Feld gave the go-ahead for expanding the small Museum of Man and Nature. After years of discussions and revised designs by Staab Architekten, who won approval from the monument protection authorities, the planning team will submit the project documents to a state building authority in summer 2021. There they rest gently. the cost framework – including the expected price increases, which have an impact with every month of waiting – is 280 million euros.
According to the minister, one possible consideration is that the state should give the construction project private hands. But it looks like there won’t be a quick decision. What does that mean for the more than 20-strong planning team? Some, whose contracts expire at the end of this year or in the course of next year, are worried about their future. She also reassured Blume: “We will find good solutions for everyone.”
Founding director Michael John Gorman remains optimistic that he saw his museum open before he retired. He wants to create a living museum, it should take up current topics and become an interface between research, society, economy and politics. “Since I came to Munich from Dublin six years ago to set up Biotopia at this original site, the importance of science and environmental communication has become more important than ever.” The corona pandemic and climate crisis have shown how quickly misinformation spread. Even knowledge about the extinction of species is far from being known to the public. “We have developed a concept for Biotopia that has garnered international recognition and interest at a time when there is a global effort to reinvent the natural history museum for the 21st century, the so-called biological century.”
The support group that Auguste von Bayern, from the Wittelsbach family and renowned daughter of ornithologists, founded, is also trying to collect more donations for the project. The activists have now collected almost eleven million euros. The aim is to double this amount. According to Auguste von Bayern, the delays are “of course not a pleasant situation for us, who have experienced so much enthusiasm for Biotopia for so many years and are eagerly awaiting the start of construction. Bavaria is losing valuable time, in which the Free State has long been involved nationally and internationally with Biotopia could shine, and where children and citizens benefit from Biotopia.” Her colleague in the support group, Randolf Rodenstock, adds: “It would be extremely embarrassing if the project did not make progress now. For us, but above all for the state government. It’s been discussed for eleven years, and the foundation stone hasn’t even been laid.” As an entrepreneur and former chairman of the Bavarian Business Association, Rodenstock sees the innovative museum as an investment in the future. He continues to think the costs are modest: the Berlin Natural History Museum will be renewed for 660 million euros, the Frankfurt Senckenberg Museum for 316 million.
The concept is still being discussed
The former Minister of Science, Wolfgang Heubisch (FDP), repeatedly certifies that the CSU, from whose ranks there have repeatedly been cross-shots against the architecture and content of Biotopia in the past, has a sense for cultural innovations. His group still stands by Biotopia, he emphasizes. You shouldn’t save on culture, of all things – at a time when knowledge transfer and judgment are becoming increasingly important.
State parliament colleague Verena Osgyan is somewhat more skeptical about the green parliamentary group. Although she also emphasizes: “A modern, world-class natural history museum, that would be something.” However, she is not yet convinced of the concept presented so far. “In what form should school education be integrated? How are the experiments and digital innovations presented put into context? Do the overarching themes presented really promote awareness of species protection?”
During this time, the Museum of Man and Nature will continue to operate. The ministry had already set closure dates several times, which were then lifted again – not a pleasant work for the employees. The museum is popular, school classes come from all over Bavaria, but the building and its contents are in urgent need of renovation. It was temporary from the start. Because the conclusion for a modern natural history museum was already in 1970. According to Prime Minister Alfons Goppel, it should “educate people about themselves, about their environment and about the dangers that technical civilization poses to nature.” There was an architectural competition, but then the realization failed due to lack of money. Half a century later, the provisional is still standing.
There will be another one on the weekend of October 1st and 2nd Biotopia Festival. This time it’s all about the senses – hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, feeling. How does perception work in humans and animals? There are dozens of hands-on stations, experiments, lectures and art projects in the Museum Man and Nature, in the Hubertus Hall of Nymphenburg Palace, in the Botanical Garden and in the Biotopia Lab. You can put on a helmet and look around the corner like an insect or the robot CellFlauschen, which creates a neural network and uses it to produce sounds, in a duet with an opera singer. The Biotopia festivals take place every year during the construction period and are intended to give an insight into how the museum intends to present itself in the future. information below www.biotopia.net.