DesignPanoptikum - Surreal Museum for Industrial Objects

DesignPanoptikum - Surreal Museum for Industrial Objects

At first glance, the Designpanoptikum (English: Design Panopticon) looks like an odd cabinet of horrors. At second glance, however, it reveals a curious hodgepodge of fascinating objects.

  • Designpanoptikum (1)© dpa
    A visitor of the DesignPanopticum looks at a slide projector for the cinema screen from 1960.
  • Designpanoptikum (2)© dpa
    A visitor looks at an exhibit of the DesignPanoptikum.
  • Designpanoptikum (3)© dpa
    A visitor looks at an exhibit of the DesignPanoptikum.
The Surreal Museum of Industrial Objects is a curiosity in Berlin's museum landscape. Most of the objects on display here initially evoke fear, horror or at least perplexity in visitors. However, the brachial-looking metal objects, coffin-like constructs and bizarre industrial knick-knacks turn out to be quite normal utilitarian objects from times gone by. Prostheses, an iron lung, a dissection table for small animals and an ejector seat are only a small selection of the exhibits.

Form Follows Function

Common to all the objects on show is that their design is strictly based on functionality and not on aesthetic sensibility. Upon closer inspection, supposed instruments of torture thus turn out to be medical devices or technical components. The design of the museum differs from classical exhibition concepts: exhibits are arranged in a peculiar artistic way, sometimes seemingly without concept, so that visitors could imagine themselves on the set of the surreal movie "Metropolis".

Chat to the Museum Director

If you are lucky, you will find museum director and photographer Vlad Korneev in a chatty mood. Korneev discovered and bought all the objects exhibited in the museum himself and can tell exciting and entertaining anecdotes about each one of them and about the museum itself.

Address, Opening Hours and Contact Information

Karte

City map
 Address
Poststraße 7
10178 Berlin
Phone
+49 (0)1577 401 29 91
Website
www.designpanoptikum.com
Opening Hours
Thursday and Saturday from 12 noon till 6 PM
Admission Fee
12 euros

Public transportation

Underground
Bus
Tram

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© dpa

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Last edited: 19 December 2022